Proposition 34 Case Essay Example for Free

Proposition 34 Case Essay If the states voters approve it, Proposition 34 will eliminate the death penalty in California and replace it with life in prison without the possibility of parole. Specifically, Proposition 34 will: Repeal the death penalty as maximum punishment for people found guilty of murder and replace it with life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Apply retroactively to people already sentenced to death. Require people found guilty of murder to work while in prison, with their wages to be applied to any victim restitution fines or orders against them. Create a $100 million fund to be distributed to law enforcement agencies to help solve more homicide and rape cases. California has seven hundred and twenty five people on death row. Seven of the seven hundred and twenty five people currently on death row have exhausted all appeals and are therefore eligible for execution; although a federal judge said that legal challenges to Californias lethal injection procedure must be resolved before any of them could be executed. The last time a prisoner was put to death in California was in 2006. California is one of 33 states that currently authorize the death penalty. The death penalty in California was judicially invalidated in the 1970s and was then reinstated as Proposition 7 in 1978. Thirteen inmates have been executed since then. Some arguments people are making who are FOR proposition 34 are that more than one hundred innocent people have been sentenced to death in the United States, and some have been executed. Their argument is stating that if proposition 34 is passed then we will never execute an innocent person in California again. Another argument is that California’s death penalty is too closely and broken beyond repair. They argue that one, only thirteen people have been executed since 1967-no one since 2006, most death row inmates die of old age. Two, we waste millions of tax dollars on special housing and taxpayer-financed appeals that can last 25 years. And last but not least in today’s society death row inmates sit around doing nothing. More arguments are that proposition 34 will make convicted killers work and pay into victims’ compensation fund, it will keep the killers in prison until they die, it will free up millions of tax dollars (to help our schools and to catch more murderers and rapists), and it saves money. Supporters are saying people think death penalty is cheaper then life in prison but they are wrong. Supporters also say California will save nearly $1 billion in five years, and the money could be spent on law  enforcement and our schools. Another thing supporters say is that there are more then one million unsolved cases of murders, so if we demolish the death penalty then some money can go to DNA testing, crime labs, and all other tools that help solve rapes and murders. Arguments that non supporters are making is that California is broke and abolishing the death penalty will cost tax payers over $10 0 million in the next four years and many years and many millions more in the future, instead of justice, killers get lifetime housing/healthcare benefits. Proposition 34 is not about saving money, it is about ACLU’s agenda to weaken public safety laws. Proposition 34 lets serial killers, cop killers, child killers, and those who kill the elderly, escape justice. Proponents don’t acknowledge that when California’s death penalty was eliminated before, condemned criminals were released only to rape and kill again. Voters had to restore capital punishment to restore justice. The death penalty is given to less than 2% of murderers whose crimes are so shocking that juries of law-abiding citizens unanimously delivered the sentence. Capital murder victims include: two hundred and twenty five children, forty three police officers, two hundred and thirty five raped and murdered, and ninety tortured and murdered. Non- Supporters also say that ACLU is the problem and that it is the ACLU and supporters who have disrupted fair implementation of the law with endless delays. Other states including Ohio and Arizona give criminals full rights and fairly enforce the death penalty. California can too. Also, that marketing Proposition 34, supporters make cost claims based on newspaper articles and â€Å"studies† written by the ACLU or other death penalty opponents. Department of Corrections data suggests abolishing capital punishment will result in increased long-term costs in the tens of millions, just for housing/healthcare. Taxpayers will spend at least $50,000 annually to care for each convicted killer who didn’t think twice about killing innocent children, cops, mothers and fathers. Non supporters say proposition 34 proponents don’t want you to know that it is not about the money, it is about their political agenda. In my opinion, if I were voting, I would vote no on proposition 34 because I feel that if someone can murder or rape another person then they deserve to die. There are way too many people in this world that are raping and killing others so we need to get rid of the ones already caught. I feel that if people actually start to get executed  for their stupidity then others will start to think twice before they go and rape or kill some one else. If we take away the death penalty then I feel that people will begin to kill and rape even more because in their minds it is â€Å"Hey, it’s only life in prison without parole, I still get benefits and I get to work†. If the death penalty get abolished California is screwed! Works Cited http://www.smartvoter.org/2012/11/06/ca/state/prop/34/