California Death Penalty Case Study

In 1985, David Bruck wrote an article titled The Death Penalty in the New Republic. In the article, David Bruck wrote a rebuttal to the assertions that New York Mayor Ed Koch had in support of the death penalty. Mayor Koch asserted that the death penalty gave proper respect to the lives of the victims. However, Bruck argued that the death penalty gave the voice to the murders, and that the spectacle created an event that was less than respectful to the victims. Mayor Koch also points out that there has been no evidence that innocent people have sentenced to death. However, Bruck uses Mayor Koch’s own source to prove that innocents had been wrongly convicted, but that those cases did not involve the death penalty. Consequently, the finality

I think Texas needs to discriminate certain behaviors. Many people spent so many years in prison waiting to be executed. I think the government needs to reduce the waiting period for only those people who they are sure that they committed the crime and needs to be executed. Most of the time it’s unfair because those people spend their years waiting and enjoying in prison while the family members are still waiting for justice. It’s unfair that sometimes the family members don’t even witness the justice because they die before the person who committed the crime is executed. The Texas government also needs to reduce jail length for people arrested because of possession of drugs. The government needs to punish them, instead of putting them in

David Bruck, attorney, disagrees with Edward Koch, that the death penalty “affirms life” (1985). David Bruck uses the example of the execution of Joseph Carl Shaw (page 1)

The California Department of Corrections & Rehabilitation, give a thorough background to the death penalty. The CDCR confirm that the introducing of the death penalty here in California, began due to the Criminal Practices Act of 1851 along with the penal code that was reinstated the fourteenth of February, 1872. According to the CDCR, there are two maximum facilities who held executions in California, being in San Quentin and Folsom. The first ever execution was held on the third of March, 1893 in San Quentin maximum facility. Folsom following their first on the thirteenth of December. 1895. Throughout the years, over 215 inmates in San Quentin and 92 in Folsom were executed, none being documented correctly. Thus, leading into the California

In “The Death Penalty” (1985), David Bruck argues that the death penalty is injustice and that it is fury rather than justice that compels others to “demand that murderers be punished” by death. Bruck relies on varies cases of death row inmates to persuade the readers against capital punishment. His purpose is to persuade readers against the death penalty in order for them to realize that it is inhuman, irrational, and that “neither justice nor self-preservation demands that we kill men whom we have already imprisoned.” Bruck does not employ an array of devices but he does employ some such as juxtaposition, rhetorical questions, and appeals to strengthen his argument. He establishes an informal relationship with his audience of

The death penalty has existed in different forms dating back to Eighteenth Century B.C. Burning, hanging, beating, etc. were all means to an end to achieve this retribution. In today’s society, the debate over whether the death penalty is a viable punishment is still to be determined. Many scholars suggest that it fails to act as a deterrent and should be abolished while others cling to the idea that it continues to serve as retribution to those affected by the acts of criminals. Within this paper I will study the changing attitudes towards the death penalty as well as look into Texas and California as examples as they both portray interesting cases of the death penalty. While both actively sentence criminals to death row, California rarely executes while Texas has the highest execution rates in the country. Do these states have lower crime rates because of this or will this prove that the death penalty is unnecessary and violates the eighth amendment and is out of line with current views.

Much of the court's time could be saved if death row inmates were limited to a set number of appeals in a reasonable amount of time. Facilitating numerous appeals results in many unforeseen costs. In 1992, expenditures on criminal justice activities by all federal, state, and local governments combined reached $299 per capita.(BJS) Ted Bundy's 10 year stay on death row, involving numerous appeals and excessive imprisonment fees, eventually cost the Florida state taxpayers more than $6 million dollars.(Lamar 34) These expenses are unnecessary and unjustifiable and could be alleviated by limiting appeals. In addition to this, public defense expenditures reached a startling $16.4 billion in 1990, which breaks down to about $7 per capita for each case tried in public defense costs alone.(Capital Punishment 1992) Although these figures are for total spending on public defense, it is easy to deduce that by limiting the number of appeals for death row inmates, these figures could be significantly reduced.

The state of California is currently suffering from a state deficit so great it would seem wise to restructure the death penalty as it stands now rather than cut education programs and jobs. California is a state which supports capital punishment; it is also a state that very rarely executes it death row inmates. In the last several years, California’s public educations system has taken on enormous budget cuts due to the state revenue crisis. As political leaders gather in the senate and review the gravity of the state’s situation, political leaders should examine how restructuring the death penalty and implementing life without parole would be beneficial for the state and those residing within the state itself. Utilizing the death penalty

What are we mad about electricity rates, gasoline prices, traffic congestion and crowded schools? We're missing the point here. What were missing here is some good, old and honest anger about an issue that has been a concern for decades – California's Death Penalty. The Death Penalty has long been a problem in California from costs, deterrence, overcrowded prisons, execution of the innocent and so on. Then if were having all these problems why should we continue using this system?

     What are we mad about electricity rates, gasoline prices, traffic congestion and crowded schools? We’re missing the point here. What were missing here is some good, old and honest anger about an issue that has been a concern for decades – California’s Death Penalty. The Death Penalty has long been a problem in California from costs, deterrence, overcrowded prisons, execution of the innocent and so on. Then if were having all these problems why should we continue using this system?

People not only in California, but in many other states and countries kill their own kind. They take another’s life, but yet they are left with their own. They plot in their own time to find ways to murder or assault others. What would the penalty for such an action be, in essence, they would be sentenced to death for their actions. In the research I have done, around twenty-eight states in the united states use the death penalty. I am here to support the use of the death penalty in California. The death penalty should be used in California because killers are still able to see their families when the victim's family is not able to, murder is never justifiable, and a person who has been convicted of a capital felony shall be punished by death.

Imagine you 're watching the local news, and suddenly you hear a case about a man put on death row because of the murder of a homeless man. Most people wouldn 't think twice about this type of case and think to themselves "that 's what he deserves" or "these types of things happen all the time". A report by the Death Penalty Information Center and titled "The 2% Death Penalty: How a Minority of Counties Produce Most Death Cases at Enormous Costs to Us All (Dieter 2013)" talks about a concerning geographic actuality about death row. The majority of the public may think that capital punishment is a widely used form of punishment today but, the reality of the situation is actually, very displeasing. In states that allow this type of punishment, only two percent of counties have been guilty of the bulk of cases (Dieter 2013). Even worse, counties that have the death penalty in effect are responsible for some of the highest reversal rates and errors of injustice (2013). One example of this issue is the state of Alabama. Alabama sentences more people to death than any other state in the United States. According to ACME International, this is because "50% of the people on death row were granted legal representation by public defenders whose compensation for trial preparation is capped at a maximum of $1000 per case." The reality is that a $1000 cap cannot pay for lawyers, witnesses, and specific

There was a proposition on the ballot this year that was proposing to replace the death penalty with life imprisonment without the possibility of parole instead. This proposition would have also increased those inmates’ wages. The proposition claimed that doing this would have reduced the costs of around $150 million dollars annually within a few years. When saving money supersedes punishing those who have committed crimes so atrocious that is when we have failed as a state, and as a country. The death penalty is saved for those who have committed crimes that were so unforgivable and heinous that they cannot be allowed to live. The crimes that they committed were so wicked that they were shocking to the public,

To kill or not to kill. The legalization of the death penalty in certain states in America is undoubtable an issue cluttered with controversy, yet one worth analyzing. Although I am relatively informed on the topic because of my strong interest in real crime shows and documentaries, I would not say I am biased, for I do not possess a strong conviction on either side. David Bruck, a successful lawyer devoted to the defense of persons charged with a capital crime, offers a worthwhile insight to the discussion. His essay, The Death Penalty, came as a response to an essay by the democratic mayor of New York City at the time, Edward I. Koch.

In this paper, the authors examine how the death penalty argument has changed in the last 25 years in the United States. They examine six specific issues: deterrence, incapacitation, caprice and bias, cost innocence and retribution; and how public opinion has change regarding these issues. They argue that social science research is changing the way Americans view the death penalty and suggest that Americans are moving toward an eventual abolition of the death penalty.