Learning about Prop 34
Did you know the death penalty actually costs MORE than life in prison without possibility of parole?
When I found out I was all
It's true.
So I wanted to know -- what costs so much? Where does all this money go? I was like
So I read the study myself. A federal judge and a law professor wrote a research study examining California's death penalty. It turns out that whenever prosecutors seek the death penalty, there are ADDED costs.
Death penalty cases have longer trials, more experts, and a mandatory double trial. And when I learned that death row inmates get special privileges in prison like a legal team for life that taxpayers pay for, I was all
The weird thing is... we spend all this money but hardly anyone ever gets executed. Over the last 30 years, we've executed 13 people. Most death row inmates die of old age.
According to the study, those 13 executions cost about $307 million each for a total of $4 billion.
When I learned that, I was upset, but I kept my cool. I was like
But then I pulled myself together, and realized we need to focus on public safety. I want to make sure my family and community are safe. I was all
It turns out that while we waste billions on the death penalty, 46% of all homicides and 56% of reported rapes go unsolved every year in California.
We should be using our public safety resources effectively, not wasting them on a broken system.
That's where Prop 34 comes in.
Prop 34 replaces the death penalty with life in prison with no possibility of parole. Killers will stay behind bars forever, and we can stop the waste on special death row lawyers and extra privileges for death row inmates.
Then I learned that the official state analysis of Prop 34 by the non-partisan Legislative Analysts Office says Prop 34 will save $130 million every year.
And here's the kicker: Prop 34 guarantees that California will never execute an innocent person.
I have a word for that, and it's
So when my friends convinced me to vote YES on 34, we were like
Then we had a dance party.