2012 California Proposition 34

A coalition of law enforcement officials, murder victims’ family members, and wrongly convicted people launched the initiative campaign for the “Savings, Accountability, and Full Enforcement for California Act”, or SAFE California, Prop. 34.{{cite web |url=http://www.safecalifornia.org/about |title=Supporters |website=SAFE California |access-date=August 24, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140826160730/http://www.safecalifornia.org/about |archive-date=August 26, 2014 |df=mdy-all }} If it had been passed by California voters on November 6, 2012, Prop. 34 would have replaced the death penalty with life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, require people sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole to work in order to pay restitution to victims’ families, and allocate approximately $30 million per year for three years to police departments for the purpose of solving open murder and rape cases.{{cite web|url=http://www.safecalifornia.org/facts/about |title = SAFE California {{!}} About Prop. 34 |website=SAFE California |access-date=2012-11-04 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121111211116/http://www.safecalifornia.org/facts/about |archive-date=November 11, 2012 |df=mdy }} Prop. 34 was ahead in the most recent Los Angeles Times poll when voters heard about "the financial ramifications and details of [Prop. 34's] effect on prisoners."{{cite news |url=http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-poll-death-penalty-20121026,0,7370020.story |title=Support for end to California death penalty surges |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121215212558/http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-poll-death-penalty-20121026%2C0%2C7370020.story |archive-date=December 15, 2012 |df=mdy-all }}

On March 1, 2012, the SAFE California Campaign submitted 799,589 signatures to qualify for the election on November 6, 2012.{{cite news | url=http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/california-politics/2012/03/death-penalty-opponents-move-closer-to-november-ballot-initiative.html | work=Los Angeles Times | title=Death penalty opponents move closer to November ballot initiative | date=March 1, 2012 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121113215625/http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/california-politics/2012/03/death-penalty-opponents-move-closer-to-november-ballot-initiative.html | archive-date=November 13, 2012 | df=mdy-all }} On April 23, 2012, California Secretary of State Debra Bowen announced that the initiative had been approved and would be on the November ballot.{{cite news|url=http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/ballot-measures/qualified-ballot-measures.htm |title=Qualified Statewide Ballot Measures |website= www.sos.ca.gov |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120829201803/http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/ballot-measures/qualified-ballot-measures.htm |archive-date=August 29, 2012 |access-date=July 23, 2017 }}

Proponents of Prop. 34 cite the cost of implementing the death penalty as a major motivating factor behind the initiative.{{cite news|url=http://www.safecalifornia.org/facts/savings |title=Costs & Savings |website=SAFE California |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130115165337/http://www.safecalifornia.org/facts/savings |archive-date=January 15, 2013 |access-date=July 23, 2017 }} A 2011 study by former prosecutor and federal judge Arthur Alarcón indicates that California has spent approximately $4 billion to execute 13 people since the death penalty was reinstated.{{cite news| url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2011-jun-20-la-me-adv-death-penalty-costs-20110620-story.html | work=Los Angeles Times | first=Carol J. | last=Williams | title=Death penalty costs California $184 million a year, study says | date=June 20, 2011}} The Legislative Analyst's Office official analysis of the proposition shows that Prop. 34 will likely save taxpayers over 100 million dollars per year.{{cite news|url=https://vig.cdn.sos.ca.gov/2012/general/pdf/34-title-summ-analysis.pdf |title=Death Penalty. Initiative Statute |website= vig.cdn.sos.ca.gov |access-date=July 23, 2017 }}

Proponents of Prop. 34 also cite the possibility of executing an innocent person as a major motivating factor behind the initiative.{{cite news|url= http://www.safecalifornia.org/facts/innocence |title=Innocence |website=SAFE California |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121104205001/http://www.safecalifornia.org/facts/innocence |archive-date=November 4, 2012 |access-date=July 23, 2017 }} A recently released study by the Chief Justice Earl Warren Institute on Law and Social Policy at University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, shows that California's rate of wrongful convictions is the highest in the nation.[http://www.law.berkeley.edu/files/CAWrongfulConvictionsPrjFactSheetFINAL.pdf ]{{dead link|date=July 2017}}

Supporters of Prop. 34 include:

• The California Democratic Party{{cite web |url=http://www.safecalifornia.org/about/other-organizations |title=Endorsements from Organizations and Unions (147) |website=SAFE California |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160519162939/http://www.safecalifornia.org/about/other-organizations |archive-date=May 19, 2016 |access-date=July 23, 2017 }}

]{{dead link|date=July 2017}}

• The California Nurses Association
• The League of Women Voters of California
• The California State NAACP
• All the bishops of the Roman Catholic Church in California.{{cite web |url=http://www.cacatholic.org/index.php/issues2/reverence-for-life/death-penalty/538-prop-34-support |title=CA Bishops Support Prop 34 to End the Use of the Death Penalty |website=California Catholic Conference |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121007004746/http://www.cacatholic.org/index.php/issues2/reverence-for-life/death-penalty/538-prop-34-support |archive-date=October 7, 2012 |access-date=July 23, 2017}}
• All the bishops of the Episcopal Church in California.{{cite web |url=http://episcopaldigitalnetwork.com/ens/2012/10/10/california-bishops-release-statement-supporting-proposition-34/ |title=California bishops release statement supporting Proposition 34 |publisher=Episcopaldigitalnetwork.com |date=2012-10-10 |access-date=2017-07-23 |archive-date=October 12, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121012042321/http://episcopaldigitalnetwork.com/ens/2012/10/10/california-bishops-release-statement-supporting-proposition-34/ |url-status=dead }}
• Jeanne Woodford, the former Warden of San Quentin State Prison who presided over four executions;{{cite web |url=http://www.safecalifornia.org/stories/enforcement/woodford |title=Jeanne Woodford |website=SAFE California |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120620145622/http://www.safecalifornia.org/stories/enforcement/woodford |archive-date=June 20, 2012 |access-date=July 23, 2017}}
• Gil Garcetti, the former District Attorney of Los Angeles County;{{cite web |url=http://www.safecalifornia.org/stories/enforcement/garcetti |title=Gil Garrett |website=SAFE California |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120620145622/http://www.safecalifornia.org/stories/enforcement/garcetti |archive-date=June 20, 2012 |access-date=July 23, 2017}}
• Franky Carrillo{{cite web |url=http://www.safecalifornia.org/stories/innocent/carrillo |title=Franky Carrillo, Jr. |website=SAFE California |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120620145622/http://www.safecalifornia.org/stories/innocent/carrillo |archive-date=June 20, 2012 |access-date=July 23, 2017}} and Obie Anthony,{{cite web |url=http://www.safecalifornia.org/stories/innocent/obies-story |title=Pboe Anthony |website=SAFE California |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120620145622/http://www.safecalifornia.org/stories/innocent/obies-story |archive-date=June 20, 2012 |access-date=July 23, 2017}} who were wrongly convicted of murder and spent decades in prison before their exoneration;
• Deldelp Medina{{cite web |url=http://www.safecalifornia.org/stories/victims/medina |title=Deldelp Medina |website=SAFE California |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120620145622/http://www.safecalifornia.org/stories/victims/medina |archive-date=June 20, 2012 |access-date=July 23, 2017}} and Aqeela Sherrills,{{cite web |url=http://www.safecalifornia.org/stories/victims/sherrills |title=Aqeela Sherrills |website=SAFE California |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120620145622/http://www.safecalifornia.org/stories/victims/sherrills |archive-date=June 20, 2012 |access-date=July 23, 2017}} family members of murder victims;
• Don Heller,{{cite web |url=http://www.safecalifornia.org/stories/new-voices/heller |title=Don Heller |website=SAFE California |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120620145622/http://www.safecalifornia.org/stories/new-voices/heller |archive-date=June 20, 2012 |access-date=July 23, 2017}} the author of the 1978 initiative that expanded the use of the death penalty in California;{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/07/us/fighting-to-repeal-california-execution-law-they-championed.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all | work=The New York Times | first=Adam | last=Nagourney | title=Fighting to Repeal California Execution Law They Championed | date=April 6, 2012}}
• Ron Briggs,{{cite web |url=http://www.safecalifornia.org/stories/new-voices/ron-briggs |title=Ron Briggs |website=SAFE California |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120620145622/http://www.safecalifornia.org/stories/new-voices/ron-briggs |archive-date=June 20, 2012 |access-date=July 23, 2017}} a main proponent of the 1978 initiative that expanded the use of the death penalty in California.{{cite news| url=https://www.latimes.com/opinion/la-xpm-2012-feb-12-la-oe-briggs-death-penalty-20120212-story.html | work=Los Angeles Times | first=Ron | last=Briggs | title=California's death penalty law: It simply does not work | date=February 12, 2012}}

Some Prop. 34 detractors do not believe the studies that indicate that the death penalty in California is more expensive than life in prison without the possibility of parole.{{cite web|url=http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0412/75540_Page2.html |title=California death penalty on November ballot - Associated Press |publisher=Politico.Com |access-date=2017-07-23}} Others admit that the system is broken, but hold out hope that it can be fixed, despite the fact that "reform attempts have failed to make it past the California State Legislature."{{cite web |url=http://www.neontommy.com/news/2012/05/cast-converts-rally-around-death-penalty-repeal |title=A Cast Of Converts Rallies Around Death Penalty Repeal |publisher=Neon Tommy |date=2012-05-08 |access-date=2017-07-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120712102547/http://www.neontommy.com/news/2012/05/cast-converts-rally-around-death-penalty-repeal |archive-date=July 12, 2012 |url-status=dead }}

When proposition 34 was defeated, Michael Rushford, a death penalty supporter, said the election was a call for California officials to "streamline the appeals process, expand the pool of defense attorneys qualified to handle capital cases, and execute inmates with a single lethal drug instead of the three-drug mixture now used".[https://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gquIMgeR1ld7hT0r2x5K26IEtwIg?docId=661fb8e4c49646868cd9a158b4eef211 ]{{dead link|date=June 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}

{{Reflist|2}}

• [https://voterguide.sos.ca.gov/propositions/34/ Official CA Voter Information Guide - Proposition 34]
• [http://www.YesOn34.org Official Yes on Prop 34 website]
• [http://www.waitingforjustice.net Official No on Prop 34 website]

{{CA2012elections}}

Category:2012 California ballot propositions

Category:Capital punishment in California

Category:Initiatives in the United States

Category:Criminal penalty ballot measures in the United States

Category:Capital punishment referendums

Category:Capital punishment ballot measures in the United States