Inequality in Death: Why California should Abolish the Death Penalty
A chair is removed from the death penalty chamber at San Quentin State Prison in 2019 after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order placing a moratorium on the death penalty. (California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation)
California has not executed a death row inmate since January 2006, yet still has 690 inmates living in fear of execution. In 2012 and 2016, propositions to abolish the death penalty failed. In 2012, the proposition was defeated with 51.95% of the vote, and in 2016, the proposition was defeated with 53.15% of the vote. In comparison, President Obama received 59.3% of the vote in California in 2012 and Hilary Clinton received 61.5% in 2016. The stark contrast between the two results can be explained by the American fear of crime and its importance in elections.
Crime has been a top issue for voters for decades, and politicians always try to cast their opponents as soft on crime. In 2022, fear of crime has reached record highs, with 78% of Americans saying that there is more crime in the United States than the year before. 56% of Americans believe that local crime is worsening, with the statistic being the highest it has been since before 1972. In California, around four in ten Californians believe that crime has increased in the past year. While the public may perceive that increasing the amount of capital punishment will resolve crime rate, statistics prove the opposite to be true. States that have abolished the death penalty have consistently had a lower murder rate than those that have not, with the gap between the two only growing since the 1990s. According to the ACLU, there is little credible evidence that the death penalty deters crime more effectively than long-term imprisonment.
Not only does the death penalty not affect crime, but other glaring flaws in the system support the abolishment of capital punishment. For example, the death penalty has resulted in the deaths of innocent people. Since 1973, at least 190 people have been released from death row because they were proven innocent. While it has never been fully proved that any people that have been executed were innocent, there is strong evidence that 20 executed inmates were wrongly convicted and sentenced to death. On that note, one in 25 criminal defendants who have been sentenced to death in the United States have likely been wrongly convicted. That number, which comes out to 4.1% of criminal defendants, comes from a new analysis of more than three decades of data on death sentences and death row exonerations across the United States. Any loss or potential loss of an innocent life gives reason to reconsider the death penalty when there are better alternatives.
The death penalty is also incredibly arbitrary and disproportionately against Black people. Most individuals on death row committed crimes such as murder while committing an armed robbery, yet many others convicted of the same crime are not on death row. According to the ACLU, “Who gets the death penalty is largely determined, not by the severity of the crime, but by: the race, sex, and economic class of the prisoner and victim.” According to the Death Penalty Information Center, whether a defendant gets the death penalty depends more on the race of the victim or the county where the crime was committed. Sentencing bias runs rampant and leads to personal biases of the jury deciding who lives and who dies. People of color have accounted for 43% of total executions since 1976, yet account for 55% of those on death row. Despite white victims making up only about half of all murder victims, they are involved in 80% of all death row cases. As of October 2002, 12 people were executed in the case where the defendant was white and the victim Black, compared to 178 Black defendants executed for murders with white victims. In a governmental report from 1990, the Department of Justice found that in 82% of cases, the race of the victim was found to correlate with being charged with capital punishment. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, Black defendants are 7.5 times more likely to be wrongly convicted of murder than white defendants. Furthermore, over three-fourths of the studies found that Black defendants were more likely to receive the death penalty than white defendants. Numerous other statistics show the threat of the death penalty is used in a disproportionate way against people of color. As a leading progressive force in the United States, California must take action to ban the death penalty in order to ensure equal protection under the law in its criminal justice system for all citizens.
However, the tides are shifting in the American view of the death penalty. Support for capital punishment has been trending in a negative direction in recent years despite the increase in the fear of crime. In 2021, 55% of Americans supported the death penalty, a massive fall from 80% in 1980. Younger Americans are also generally opposed to the death penalty than past generations. In a 2021 poll, opposition to capital punishment rose by 3 points while support fell by 7 points. The Committee on Revision of the Penal Code, a board formed by the California Legislature in November 2021, released a report recommending the abolition of capital punishment. It is time for Governor Newsom to take action and remove all remaining inmates off death row and commute their sentences.
While Newsom did place a moratorium on executions once he entered office in 2019, recent political events prove he must go further before it is too late. In Nevada, former Governor Steve Sisolak attempted to end capital punishment but did too little too late and lost to a pro-death penalty candidate seeking to resume executions. Former President Trump also resumed federal executions in 2020, executing the most inmates since Grover Cleveland. If California elects a pro-death penalty governor, capital punishment could be resumed and 690 lives would meaninglessly be at a much greater risk. Therefore, despite the little political pressure Newsom is facing to abolish capital punishment, he must take action. Due to California’s commutation rules, it may take a long time for every inmate's sentence to be commuted. Newsom must take action as soon as possible to ensure all inmates get off death row. If Newsom decides to run for President, taking on an issue such as the death penalty could make him stand out and be a vocal leader of the shifting tide of public opinion on capital punishment.
Gov. Gavin Newsom signs an order on March 13, 2019, imposing a moratorium on California's death penalty. Rich Pedroncelli/AP.
Governor Newsom should take immediate action to ban the death penalty. The evidence is clear that the death penalty has no impact on reducing crime and is plagued with the potential for wrongful convictions that could cost innocent lives. Furthermore, the death penalty is a racist punishment that has disproportionately affected communities of color. With this in mind, Governor Newsom’s decision to end capital punishment would not only be the morally correct choice but also a politically advantageous move. While a moratorium is a step in the right direction, it does not solve the issue, as the threat of Republicans reinstituting the punishment looms ever more likely. Therefore, to address these concerns, Newsom must completely abolish the death penalty in California to ensure a fair and equal legal system for all Californians.