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Capital Punishment V. Life W/Out Parole

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Life without Parole v. Capital Punishment in California Capital punishment is the focus of much controversy lately amongst Californians. In November, Proposition 43 gave California the option to eliminate capital punishment and convert current sentences to life without the possibility of parole. The vote against it won with only 53% of the vote. Over half the states in America favor the death penalty and apply it, while at least a dozen states have chosen not to implement it. As a resident of California, I believe that with our current fiscal crisis, it would be wise to convert current death penalty sentences to life without parole in an effort to save taxpayers millions of dollars. “Legal executions in California were authorized under the Criminal Practices Act of 1851” (History of capital punishment in California, 2010). Since that date, over 500 people have been executed by the state. California has gone through the transition from hangings, to the gas chamber, to lethal injection. In 2006, executions were put to a halt due to claims that the 3 combination lethal injection was cruel and unusual punishment. There are currently over 700 inmates, both men and women, who are waiting to be put to death. The death penalty system that we currently have in place is inactive. However, it is still costing taxpayers their money, and a large amount of it at that. California taxpayers, a considerable amount more per death row inmates than we do general population inmates. If we converted their sentences to life in prison without the possibility of parole, that would save us millions a year. The first recorded state execution took place on March 3, 1893 by hanging. (History of capital punishment in California, 2010) Inmate executions were carried out like this until August 27, 1937 when lethal gas took its place. However, this law did not concern inmates

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