Associated Press
CA's top judge: Death penalty no longer effective.......
In her first public comments about California's capital punishment system, the state's top judge said the death penalty is "not effective" and needs an overhaul that the state cannot afford.
Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye made the statements in an interview with the Los Angeles (http://lat.ms/szofzY) in Saturday's editions.
"I don't think it is working," Cantil-Sakauye told the newspaper. "It's not effective. We know that."
Cantil-Sakauye's comments come as signatures are being collected for a proposed ballot measure to abolish the death penalty. She declined to say whether she supported the proposal.
The state's death penalty requires "structural change, and we don't have the money to create the kind of change that is needed," she said. "Everyone is laboring under a staggering load."
The Republican appointee and former prosecutor took over as the state's top judge in January after serving as trial court judge and appellate jurist since 1990.
Cantil-Sakauye said the issue is not about whether one supported capital punishment.
"I think the greater question is its effectiveness and given the choices we face in California, should we have a merit-based discussion on its effectiveness and costs?" she said.
Santa Clara University law professor Gerald Uelmen called the chief justice's comments "powerful."
California has not executed anyone in nearly six years because of problems with its old death chamber and then a shortage of one of the execution drugs. The state has 720 inmates on death row, the largest in the nation.
Cantil-Sakauye's predecessor, retired Chief Justice Ronald M. George, voiced similar concerns.
George, who defended the state's death penalty before the U.S. Supreme Court, later said the state's capital punishment system was "dysfunctional," the Times reported.
Read more: http://www.nctimes.com/news/state-and-regional/ca-s-top-judge-death-penalty-no-longer-effective/article_3fd3a0d5-76b0-5a31-ad5d-44221c2dcc93.html#ixzz1hZGvX9UI
Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye made the statements in an interview with the Los Angeles (http://lat.ms/szofzY) in Saturday's editions.
"I don't think it is working," Cantil-Sakauye told the newspaper. "It's not effective. We know that."
Cantil-Sakauye's comments come as signatures are being collected for a proposed ballot measure to abolish the death penalty. She declined to say whether she supported the proposal.
The state's death penalty requires "structural change, and we don't have the money to create the kind of change that is needed," she said. "Everyone is laboring under a staggering load."
The Republican appointee and former prosecutor took over as the state's top judge in January after serving as trial court judge and appellate jurist since 1990.
Cantil-Sakauye said the issue is not about whether one supported capital punishment.
"I think the greater question is its effectiveness and given the choices we face in California, should we have a merit-based discussion on its effectiveness and costs?" she said.
Santa Clara University law professor Gerald Uelmen called the chief justice's comments "powerful."
California has not executed anyone in nearly six years because of problems with its old death chamber and then a shortage of one of the execution drugs. The state has 720 inmates on death row, the largest in the nation.
Cantil-Sakauye's predecessor, retired Chief Justice Ronald M. George, voiced similar concerns.
George, who defended the state's death penalty before the U.S. Supreme Court, later said the state's capital punishment system was "dysfunctional," the Times reported.
Read more: http://www.nctimes.com/news/state-and-regional/ca-s-top-judge-death-penalty-no-longer-effective/article_3fd3a0d5-76b0-5a31-ad5d-44221c2dcc93.html#ixzz1hZGvX9UI