Andrea Zavala

Professor Peters

English 133

6/07/17

Ending the Death Penalty

The death penalty was created to punish people for crimes like murder that are a lot

worse than a robbery. The death penalty has been modified through the years going from

hanging people to giving them a lethal injection. There are currently 31 states in the United

States that still use the death penalty, California being one of them. There have been debates

about getting rid of the death penalty in California because they suggest that it is inhumane.

They havent just been talking about this but they have also tried to pass a proposition in 2012

to end it. Along with others I agree with the plan to get rid of the death penalty but for more

reasons than it being inhumane.

The proposition that was suggested in 2012 was proposition 34. It proposed the

abolishment of the death penalty in California. Although proposition 34 was not successful it

was not far from being passed. According to Proposition 34 and the Future of Californias

Death Penalty, written by Natasha Minsker, the final results were 5,974,243 votes in

support, and 6,460,264 votes against, a margin of only 486,000 votes (Minsker Page #). The

proposition was not passed by just a few votes which could change if more people knew what

they were voting for. A lot of people do not know the benefit of getting rid of the death penalty

so they do not vote for it (page #). Unfortunately, since the campaign supporting the
proposition was unable to raise a lot of money less than $5 million available for paid media,

stated Minsker. The lack of media made it hard to spread the main message that getting rid of

the death penalty would save the state money.

The National Catholic Reporter published an article by Elizabeth A. Elliott, Act aims to

end death penalty in California, that adds a different solution to the death penalty and also

talks about the costs. In the article, Elliott interviewed the board member of Death Penalty

Focus, Paula Mitchell, to share what the Justice That Works Act of 2016 would serve to

California as a change. Mitchell shared in the article Under current law, California inmates

sentenced to life without the possibility of parole are required to work while in prison and pay

50 percent of the wages they earn to the families of the victims of their crimes But inmates on

death row do not work or pay any wages or 'restitution' to their victims' family members.

Elliott then has Matt Cherry, executive director, explain that the Justice That Works Act would

be better for California because then convicted killers would work and pay to the victims

families. Not only would it make the inmates work but it would also cost the state a lot less.

Elliott shares that the state could save about $150 million per year according to her source

Elisabeth Semel who is the director of the Death Penalty Clinic at the University of California,

Berkeley. Although there still is a cost to life without the possibility of parole Semel estimated

that the cost would be just over $11 million per year, as opposed to $150 million.

Others want to get rid of the death penalty because they think it is inhumane, most of

these people are believed to be Catholic or of another religion. In 2012 when Proposition 34

was trying to be passed the California Catholic Conference was said to be supporting the

proposition. Matt Cherry believed that many opinions had changed because of Pop Francis. In
Elliotts article Cherry had said, I think that the outspoken opposition to the death penalty

expressed by Pope Francis has also moved public opinion in the U.S., and not just among practicing

Catholics Although the church has long opposed the use of the death penalty, I think it had a huge

impact when Pope Francis stood before the U.S. Congress and called for the abolition of the death

penalty. I know that their crimes deserve to be punished but is ending their life making us any better?