In the last 40 years, California has executed 13 people. There are currently 749 people sentenced to death penalty, as reported by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
Two of the propositions on the Nov. 8 ballot will decide whether to abolish the death penalty or speed up the execution process.
Proposition 62
Proposition 62 would abolish the death penalty in the state and replace it with life imprisonment as the maximum punishment.
Associate Professor of Criminal Justice Paul Kaplan, worked as a mitigation specialist on capital cases for 10 years doing mitigation investigation.
“Any time something happens in California it matters for the whole country, it has a lot of impact,” Kaplan said.
As of now the death penalty has been abolished in 19 states.
Proposition 66
Proposition 66 would speed up the process to carry out the death penalty to sentenced inmates. It would also require sentenced inmates to work while in prison to pay the family of the victims and to pay the state for the costs of the legal procedures.
“I don’t support the death penalty,” public relations senior Veronica Valdez said. “I think it’s wrong to kill anyone, but I do understand there’s certain things where like someone killed someone.”
“I’m all for (Prop 62 passing), as a practicing Catholic we believe in the dignity of the human person, of all people, even if they’ve done wrong,” Valdez said.
Proposition 66 would shorten the appeals process of the death penalty. Currently, the appeal process for it costs the state a lot of money.
Kaplan said part of the reason it is expensive is because there are not enough courts, lawyers or investigative staff that can cover the number of cases.
“So that is the question: do you want to speed that up and suddenly be executing 5 guys a week? Prop 66 could have that consequence,” Kaplan said.
Another concern is the issue of wrongfully executing innocent people.
Along with a faster process, if Proposition 66 is passed, the qualifications for attorneys who work in the appellate process would be lowered, Kaplan said.
Aylen Duran, construction engineering sophomore, said she would support Proposition 66 because it would mean inmates would work while waiting for their sentence, while with 62 they would only have more time in prison.
The death penalty is currently legal in 31 states.
