[meteor_slideshow slideshow=”arp1″]
Support for end to California death penalty surges
Nearly half of registered voters still back capital punishment, but the margin has shrunk to 3 percentage points. Voters also favor easing the three-strikes law.
Voter support for a ballot measure to repeal California’s death penalty has jumped dramatically, though not enough to ensure its passage, a new USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll has found.
Support for a separate measure that would ease the state’s three-strikes sentencing law remained high, with more than 60% in favor of amending it.
The survey, conducted last week, showed that the gap between supporters and opponents of Proposition 34, the capital punishment measure, is now very small — only 3 percentage points — compared with last month. Still, less than half of respondents said they would vote for the measure, which would replace the death penalty with life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
Forty-two percent said they would vote for Proposition 34, with 45% saying no. In September, the gap was 38% to 51%, a 13-point difference. A significant 12% of respondents said they did not know how they would vote, nearly identical to the 11% who had not decided last month.
“There is no question there has been a sharp shift,” said Dan Schnur, who heads the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics at USC. The results suggest that passage is “not impossible” but still “very difficult,” Schnur said.
When voters heard more information about Proposition 34, such as its financial ramifications and details of the effect on prisoners, responses flipped: 45% were in favor and 42% against — still very close to the survey’s margin of error, which is 2.9 percentage points.
The latest USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences/Los Angeles Times poll questioned 1,504 registered voters by telephone from Oct. 15 to Oct. 21, before the Proposition 34 campaign launched radio and television ads. Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research, a Democratic firm, did the survey with American Viewpoint, a Republican company.
Proposition 34 would apply retroactively to condemned inmates, require convicted murderers to work in prison and contribute to victim restitution funds, and direct $100 million to law enforcement over four years. It could save the state as much as $130 million a year, according to California’s nonpartisan legislative analyst.
California has more than 727 inmates on death row, the most in the nation. Since the death penalty’s reinstatement in 1978, 13 inmates have been put to death and many more have died of old age, other natural causes or suicide. Court rulings have prevented executions for six years.
Supporters contend that the system is broken and wasteful, with the state spending tens of millions of dollars each year on capital trials and appeals. They argue that DNA-based exonerations across the nation demonstrate that innocent people remain at risk of being executed.
Opponents, primarily law enforcement and victims’ groups, counter that any savings could be consumed by the cost of healthcare for lifetime inmates. They say murder defendants would probably insist on going to trial if they no longer feared receiving a death sentence.
Natasha Minsker, campaign manager for Proposition 34, said the poll’s findings prove that “this election is absolutely moving in our direction.” But Peter DeMarco, a strategist for the opposition, expressed confidence that the shift was too small to make a difference.
Debbie Stephens, a poll respondent from the San Joaquin Valley city of Oakdale, said she opposed Proposition 34 because she believed the death penalty was the morally correct punishment. “I’m sad that it’s not used as much as it should be,” said the home decorating designer, who is registered as a Republican.
For Shirley Hutcheson, 64, a Manhattan Beach retiree, the decision on Proposition 34 came down to economics. Though she favors the death penalty, she said she would support the measure if she were certain it saved money.
Meanwhile, support for the three-strikes measure, Proposition 36, has held relatively steady in recent weeks, with 63% of voters in favor, 22% opposed and 15% undecided or not answering. Last month, the initiative was leading by 66% to 20%.
“Unless the opponents can convince voters that the criminals being impacted by this measure are still dangerous, the initiative looks pretty safe at this point,” Schnur said.
The three-strikes law allows prosecutors to seek sentences of 25 years to life for any felony if offenders were previously convicted of at least two violent or serious crimes, such as rape or residential burglary.
Proposition 36 would amend the law so offenders whose third strikes were relatively minor felonies, such as shoplifting or drug possession, would no longer be eligible for life terms. Of the state’s nearly 8,900 third-strikers, about a third were convicted of drug or minor property crimes.
This week, the proposition’s campaign unveiled a television ad in which the district attorneys from Los Angeles, San Francisco and Santa Clara counties tell voters that the amendment would ease prison overcrowding, save the state millions of dollars and “make the punishment fit the crime.”
Opponents point out that the current law already allows prosecutors and judges to spare a third-striker the maximum sentence and argue that flexibility is needed to protect the public.
write an analysis of the above article.
[meteor_slideshow slideshow=”arp2″]
A-Research-Paper.com is committed to deliver a custom paper/essay which is 100% original and deliver it within the deadline. Place your custom order with us and experience the different; You are guaranteed; value for your money and a premium paper which meets your expectations, 24/7 customer support and communication with your writer. Order Now
Use the order calculator below and get started! Contact our live support team for any assistance or inquiry.
[order_calculator]
