Posted on 03/08/2012 8:06:48 AM PST by SmithL
While running for governor in 2010, Jerry Brown admitted he would "rather have a society where we didn't have to use death as a punishment." But because the Legislature and California voters approved capital punishment, "we've got to make it work."
With 725 condemned inmates living on San Quentin's Death Row but no executions since January 2006, I asked Gov. Brown at a Chronicle editorial board meeting Tuesday if California's death penalty is working.
"It's working according to the Constitution of the United States, I can tell you that," Brown answered. No, it's not working. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that the death penalty is constitutional, but there hasn't been an execution in California for six years.
Death penalty opponents should note: Brown, a former state attorney general, insisted there are no innocent inmates on California's Death Row.
But Brown also argued that to make the death penalty work, California needs to spend more money - presumably by paying more for defense attorneys - and that is not his top priority. (His focus is on passing his tax-increase ballot measure to pay down the budget deficit.)
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
While running for governor in 2010, Jerry Brown admitted he would “rather have a society where we didn’t have to use death as a punishment.”
Unless of course the punishment is for having been conceived. Then it is a choice that is fine. I will never understand the mindset of being ok to kill the innocent but not ok to kill the guilty.
Why doesn’t the US consider the guillotine? Too graphic?
I still don’t understand the objections to hanging.
It’s quick, it’s cheap, and it doesn’t require technically skilled technicians.
Weigh the guy; determine how long a fall he needs; tie a relatively simple knot; put the noose over his head; and drop the floor out from under him.
A funeral is about finding good hands for the defunct’s family.
Death penalty is not about the perp, it is about making a justice point for the victims. It has to take some blood and sacrifice and it actualy redeems the perp’s own troubled legacy at the hands of a jury.
A bullet is cheaper than a rope.
True, but a rope is reusable :)
A bullet is also.
Either will do. I’m not picky.
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