Death Penalty

If California is going to insist on the death penalty, it must at least be humane.

Last month's scathing California Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice revealed just how much the hidden death tax is costing residents of California, whose state budget is already stretched too thin. California's death row is in the abysmal state of being the largest death row in the country, despite having only executed thirteen people since 1976.

The Commission, which was called for by the state's legislature, advocated for massive reform and implicitly suggested that, with death row inmates being more likely to die of natural causes than of lethal injection or gas, abolishment would be the most feasible fiscal solution. Expansion on California's death row to include its massive population will cost $400 million, when initial estimates were at $220 million. Overhauling the system and building a new death row illuminates another debate, with both death penalty advocates and abolitionists fiercely divided over the appropriate solution. California's death row will either be expanded at San Quentin, about 20 miles north of San Francisco, or, if politicians have their way, isolated in a new desert location and hours away from any major city.

Should death row be relocated in California, several inmates would no longer have access to attorneys or relatives. Lack of attorney access may dissuade both inmates and attorneys to not pursue appeals and cases. This would be seriously detrimental to the relationship between an inmate and their representation. Attorney representation and lack of adequate counsel is one of the major indicators in the arbitrariness of the death penalty, with those who die being the ones who were not the "worst of the worst" but the ones with the worst representation.

 Executions would no longer have the same sort of public impact that they currently have in Marin County, which is one of the most liberal and progressive county in the country. The despair that inmates may feel at being so isolated may lead more prisoners to give up appeals and "volunteer" for execution, says Richard Dieter, director of the Death Penalty Information Center. All of Nevada's executions since its reinstatement have been from volunteers, which may be explained by its desert location 250 miles away from Las Vegas.  

Of course, security risks need to be a huge factor in the decision, as it is the responsibility of the state to protect its citizens. However, this is possible even in light of renovation. With so many elderly and infirm inmates on death row, it would be viable that inmates could be housed with different levels of security, with a high regard for both the prisoner's and the public's safety.

Often, death row inmate's personal histories, family lives, and childhoods are extremely complex webs of abuse, addiction, poverty, and mental illness. The death penalty provides a simplistic solution to both the criminal and their own histories. With 95% of death row inmates unable to afford their own lawyer, it is no wonder that the majority of death row inmates are those who were marginalized in life to begin with. The emotional impact that this could bring to both the inmate AND those who love them would not be as positive if relatives didn't have access to each other. Rehabilitation in transforming individuals should be a primary goal in undertaking this project, rather than simply assessing the politics of it.

Emily

DPAC