Main Idea


Prop 34 is about the death penalty.  This prop was repealed with a 52.6% vote for NO, and 47.4% for YES.  A yes on this prop would replace the death penalty with a sentence of life without parole.  It would also fund for 100 million dollars to law enforcement agencies for investigations of homicide and rape cases.  It then would take all those who are on death row, and transfer them to life without chance of parole.  Supporters of this prop say that this eliminates the chance of putting someone on death row, having them killed, them later finding out they were innocent.  When one is on death row, they have many chances to make appeals, and many of these criminals take advantage of this opportunity, and keep making as many as appeals as legally possible.  The average time on death row in California is almost 30 years.  By the time someone who is placed on death row actually gets this lethal dose, it is more than likely that they will die of natural causes or suicide.  Life without a chance of parole is also cheaper than the lethal dose required to kill someone on death row. A no on this prop would leave things as is, and not cause for any extra taxes.  Many of the people who voted no on this prop argue that it costs more money to maintain a prisoner on life without parole than it does to maybe one who last a lighter sentence.  This is due to the fact that they are considered more dangerous and need individual cells in prisons and require more attention than normal prisoners.  Although this might be true in some cases, California has very secure prisons and a nice classifying system, so this doesn't weigh as much into the equation.

Link & Analysis 
This video is a Yes on prop 34 commercial

This video tells of a person who was put in jail for murder he did not commit.  This is an example of a person who was wrongly convicted and given a sentence to stay in jail.  This person was lucky he was given a sentence for jail time, and not death.  By replacing the death penalty with the next harshest sentence, life in jail without possibility of parole, we are eliminating the chance of anything like this happening.


Significant Quotes


Opponents of the death penalty say, "The solution is to fix it; not abolish it."
They are referencing to the current death penalty process.  This process includes a 3 dose system, which is sometimes called unconstitutional, because it is cruel and unusual.  Adopting a 1 dose system, like many other states who use the death penalty as a maximum sentence.  The current process also includes a long appeals process.  This is why the current sentence of death is so costly, because those on death row keep making as many appeals as legally possible, and this is why the average waiting period on death row is almost 30 years.  The courts should allow a limited amount of appeals, and a limited time on death row before execution.  Another step to limit the cost of those on death row would be to move California death row prisoners from their individual cells in the San Quentin prison the normal prisons with maybe group cells.  All these steps would make the cost of getting a death sentence less expensive, and maybe would will see more results.  The fact is, the last time someone on California's death row was executed was in 2006, this big gap in between executions is due to the long appeals process.  Currently, California's death row includes 724 murderers, killers, and rapists.

Supports of prop 34, like Former Warden Jeanne Woodford say, "Instead of spending hundreds of millions of dollars to kill him, what if we spent that money on other foster children".
She is referencing to the Massie execution in 2001.  Massie was put on death row in 1965 for murdering a mother of two.  Then the death penalty was banned in 1978, so he was put in prison with a possibility of parole.  He was released in 1978.  Months later, he was convicted of killing a 61 year old liquor store owner, and returned back onto death row.  Then finally in 2001, he was executed by the lethal dose.  Warden Jeanne Woodford says that executing a person like this is unnecessary.  A person like this has to be kept away from society, and death is not the only way of doing that.  Life in prison without a possibility of parole is a more humane option, and more importantly, a cheaper one too.  With a yes on 34, California also gets funding to better the police system, and put more money into cases of people who received maximum punishment.  Massie grew up in a corrupted foster system, and this very likely led to his actions as an adult.  Jeanne Woodford is saying that it is better to fund money into projects and prevent people to grow up like this instead of spend it later to convict them.

Visual Argument

This is a cartoon of supporters of Prop 34.  The judge is leaning over the grave saying "knock knock, great news! Your DNA came back and you're innocent!".  This is making fun of the fact that someone maybe wrongfully executed then years later, the truth come out and be innocent.  This is the whole campaign of the supporters of Prop 34, to prevent wrongful convicting someone.

Refrences 

http://off2dr.com/modules/rmgallery/uploads/media2/catrow061900.JPG

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txD6C9lw7gY&feature=player_embedded

http://www.safecalifornia.org/news/videos/lifetime-of-experience

http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/1265/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=11059

-Sarkis Yevrenyan