Proposition 66 changes the death penalty procedures by speeding up the appeals process, establishing a time frame for death penalty review, and requiring appointed attorneys to work on death penalty cases. This proposition keeps the death penalty in place and helps compensate the victims’ families for their loss by making the criminal work while in prison (BallotPedia). Proposition 66 must pass because it will eliminate the worst criminals from society and ensure justice inside the citizens hearts.
There are voters who are not in favor of Proposition 66. They say that, while keeping the death penalty, “the system has cost taxpayers about $5 billion” (The Times Editorial Board). In California, “one report estimated that the state could save
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According to the Voter’s Guide, Proposition 66 actually “saves taxpayers money, because heinous criminals will no longer be sitting on death row at taxpayer expense for 30+ years” (Official Voter Information Guide). With Proposition 66’s reforms, Californians “will save […] over $30,000,000 annually, according to former California Finance Director Mike Genest, while making our [the state’s] death penalty system work” (BallotPedia). The job of Californians right now is not to get rid of the death sentence, but to revise and improve on it. Proposition 66 allows for this because it speeds up the death sentence procedures and reduces the people on the death row list. Moreover, “[right now,] death row inmates spend their days in a single-person cell with their own television, radio and other luxury items” (Ramos). The prisoners did not get the death sentence so they could have a lavish, leisure life. Proposition 66 turns this comfortable life upside down by making the prisoners work and pay compensation to the victims’ families. This proposition, not only proves that removing the death penalty will increase the taxpayers money, but also says that brutal killers should not be given “lifetime housing and health care” (Ramos). Also, “shortening the appeals process would shorten condemned prisoners’ lifetimes—and therefore …show more content…
Although there have been some incidences, before 1978, that have been convicted wrongly, the opposition “can’t name an exonerated individual from California’s post-1978 Death Row because there aren’t any” (Saunders – “Save the Death Penalty. No on Prop. 62”). It is highly unlikely that an innocent person will be convicted wrongly because “all appeals based on evidence or issues outside the record, known as habeas corpus appeals, would need to be presented in one case” (Smith). This action will “force qualified attorneys to take capital appeals cases” and give both sides of the court an equal chance at winning the court case (Smith). With neither side having a significant change in skill of attorneys, it will be impossible for one side to gain an advantage during the procedure. If Proposition 66 is passed, these experienced attorneys will help the truth be unveiled by sealing all means of escaping for the felon. Furthermore, Proposition 66 will speed up the death penalty appeals process while ensuring that no innocent person is ever executed (Hestrin). Therefore, this proposition will ensure the safety of all Californians and open all gates to new information about the death penalty
Proposition 47, also known as the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act, is an act that applies savings towards mental health and drug treatment programs. It is extremely controversial and viral, with large amounts of support and protests. This piece of rhetoric is relevant and has a critical impact on our local community and state of California. As the Californian General Election Official Voter Guide states, the goal of Prop 47 is to “…ensure that prison spending is focused on violent and serious offenses, to maximize alternatives for non-serious, nonviolent crime, and to invest the savings generated from this act into prevention and support programs in K–12 schools, victim services, and mental health and drug treatment” (Bowen 70). This explains
Proposition 30 (prop 30 or SB11) is supported by the schools and local public safety protection Act of 2012. Prop 30 is a tax initiative led by California governor Jerry Brown. Prop 30 is aimed at reducing forecasted budget cuts to public schools also higher education, by increasing the California sales tax from 7.25% to 7.50%for the next four years. It also will create three new tax brackets for taxable incomes. Incomes exceeding $250,000, $300,000 and $500,000 will pay more in taxes for the next seven years. With the extra money being saved will go towards adding more classes for higher education students. Also to help reduce California’s state budget, prop 30 should raise $6 billion annually form raised taxes.
Section 1. of the Amendment XXVI of the Constitution of the United States (US) states that the right of citizens of the United States, who are eighteen years of age or older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of age. Both houses of the Congress passed the amendment in March 1971.With thirty-eight states adopting it by July 1971; the 26th Amendment was ratified because the prerequisite for three-fourths of states approval had been achieved. President Nixon signed the amendment into law in the same year making the 26th constitutional amendment the quickest to ever be incorporated into the US Constitution. The amendment evoked diverse reactions amongst the public, with some saw it as a judicious
The eighth amendment of the United States Constitution prohibits cruel and unusual punishments. New Cutting edge technology carries with it the likelihood of new treatment for criminals. A fictional example of such technology is Ludovico treatment, which alters the consciousness of a criminal and makes them non-violent. The use of the Ludovico treatment on prisoners can be considered a cruel and unusual punishment and thus violate the eighth amendment. Even though this treatment may be technically unconstitutional, it would be allowed in the United States for the betterment of society.
California's Proposition 13 had a big impact on American government and public policy because it put to vote the reduction of property taxes. This Proposition had a great impact as it swept the county and made headlines in newspapers around the world. People used this initiative process to gain a greater control over their lives. The California taxpayers stood up and said no more to excessive taxes because they were tired of out of control property taxes and losing their homes because they could not pay property taxes while the government did nothing to help them. This in turn hurt the schools, cities, counties and special districts. From this proposition, we have a few others like proposition 218 and proposition 37.
Proposition 8 was a piece of legislation formally called the California Marriage Protection Act which was an amendment to the Constitution of the State of California. The amendment was voted on and passed during the state elections of November 5th, 2008. The new legislation added to the constitution reads: “Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.” The issue was prompted in May of 2008, when the California Supreme Court ruled that same sex couples had a right to marry one another according to the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution of the United States. This overruled earlier legislation known as Proposition 22, which was in fact the same as Proposition 8, but was a part of California’s Family Code, and not written into the constitution. Because the Constitution was given precedence over the Family Code in the Supreme Court’s ruling, Proposition 22 was rendered obsolete. Many people who shared conservative views about the meaning of marriage took exception to that and took action to create Proposition 8.
Steve Bogira, a prizewinning writer, spent a year observing Chicago's Cook County Criminal Courthouse. The author focuses on two main issues, the death penalty and innocent defendants who are getting convicted by the pressure of plea bargains, which will be the focus of this review. The book tells many different stories that are told by defendants, prosecutors, a judge, clerks, and jurors; all the people who are being affected and contributing to the miscarriage of justice in today’s courtrooms.
Health care has always been an important issue within the United States, resulting in hours of grueling conversations and arguments to better that which we already have. Most often words on the vine dictate that our health care is never going to improve if the government continues as they are with money hungry politicians. What better way to solve the issue of health care in the United States that to put one Sacramento politician in charge of the approval of all medical insurance and such...or so one may think. Proposition 45 is currently a big debate among the possibly affected states within America, a heated debate to be noted. Most of the people who have joined this debate are in unison with their votes of NO on Prop 45, and it is not
The United States should dispose of the death penalty due to the astronomical price it costs taxpayers to execute a prisoner. It is sometimes suggested that abolishing capital punishment is unfair to the taxpayer, as though life imprisonment were obviously more expensive than executions. If one takes into account all of the relevant costs, the reverse is true. The death penalty is not now, nor has it ever been, a more economical alternative to life imprisonment. A murderer trial normally takes much longer when the death penalty is at issue than when it is not. Litigation costs- including the time of the judges, prosecutors, public defenders, and court reporters are all borne by the taxpayer. Florida, with one of the nations largest death rows, is a ...
Cases in which the death penalty is gone after are more expensive and take more time to solve than non capital cases. “Even when a trial wasn’t necessary, those cases where the death penalty was sought still cost about twice as much as those where death was not sought” (Erb 1). The added money is due to legal representation, enhanced security for death row, and the costs it takes to go through the motions of a trial such as this. "The additional cost of confining an inmate to death row, as compared to the maximum security prisons where those sentenced to life without possibility of parole ordinarily serve their sentences, is $90,000 per year per inmate” (The Death Penalty 8). With California’s current death row (670) this would generate $63.3 million dollars per year. This is important because it shows factual stats about how much these cases cost vs regular cases and how much money could be saved if the death penalty was eliminated. These statistics show my thesis is correct because the high costs are one of the reasons why the death penalty might be
There are major problems with our criminal justice system. In the last one hundred years, there have been more than 75 documented cases of wrongful conviction of criminal homicide. According to a 1987 Stanford University survey, at least 23 Americans have been wrongly executed in the 20th century. For this very reason, the State of Illinois imposed a moratorium on the state?s death penalty in 2000 when it was discovered that 13 inmates on its Death Row were wrongly convicted. Anthony Porter, one of the 13, spent 15 years on Death Row and was within two days of being executed, before a group of Northwestern journalism students uncovered evidence that was used to prove his innocence.
The cost of the death penalty is extraordinary. California has spent more than $4 billion administering the death penalty since 1978, or more than $300 million per person for each of the 13 people who have been executed since the death penalty was reinstated. Conversely, it costs approximately $200,000 to $300,000 to convict and sentence an individual to life without the possibility of parole. If those sentenced to death received life sentences instead, we accomplish the same deterrent effect of the death penalty: criminals remain off the streets for the rest of their lives. The money saved could be spent on improving the criminal justice system such as increasing
Although some claim that “getting rid” of Louisiana’s worst criminals gives the public peace of mind, this peace of mind comes at a tremendous cost. The extra money spent on the death penalty could be spent on other means of achieving justice and making the community safer: compensation for victims, better lighting in crime areas, more police on the streets, even longer periods of incarceration for certain offenders, or projects to reduce unemployment. Quite a few jurisdictions with the death penalty have recently had to cut back on other vital services. In some states, people are being released from prison early as a cost saving measure. Other states are closing libraries and government funded offices. A second reason why the costs of the death penalty are so central is that they play a key role in how the death penalty is implemented. Supporters and opponents of the death penalty agree that the capital punishment system should not take unnecessary risks with innocent lives and should be applied with a strict fairness. As with many things, the death penalty really isn’t a bargain. There is no abstract dollar figure for the cost of the death penalty and it depends on the quality of the system one demands.
Despite ample evidence that the capital punishment system in California is broken, when ending the death penalty was on the ballot, our state voted to keep it in place [17]. Though this disappointed the opponents of the death penalty, they are not giving up on their cause[18]. Perhaps in the next few elections, the death penalty will be abolished. Only time will tell.
Great effort has been made in our criminal justice system in pretrial, trial, appeals, writ and clemency procedures to minimize the chance of and innocent person being convicted and sentenced to death. Since 1973, legal protections have been so great that 37 percent of all death row cases have been overturned for due process reasons or commuted. Inmates are six times more likely to get off death row by appeals than by execution.