Capital Punishment in California

Capital Punishment In California

Capital punishment is a legal form of punishment in the U.S. state of California. The first recorded execution in the area that is now California took place in 1778 when four Native Americans were shot in San Diego County for conspiracy to commit murder. These were the first of 709 executions before the California Supreme Court decision in People v. Anderson finding the death penalty to violate the state constitution, and the later Furman v. Georgia decision of the United States Supreme Court finding executions in general as practiced to violate the United States Constitution, both issued in 1972. Since California reinstated the death penalty in 1978, 13 people have been executed by the state.

In 2006, U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel halted executions in California after finding flaws in the state's execution process. The current hold is pending judicial review of a new execution chamber and new methodologies for executing prisoners. However, the moratorium is expected to extend into 2013 because of the current court battle between inmate attorneys and the State's Attorney General. Though prison officials have revised their procedures since 2006, death row inmates allege the procedures are still flawed and expose them to cruel and unusual punishment.

As of 2012, there are 725 offenders (including 19 women) on California's death row. Of those, 126 involved torture before murder, 173 killed children, and 44 murdered police officers.

Because California's death penalty was enacted through the voter-initiative process, the only way to replace it is through a voter-approved ballot measure. An attempt to remove the death penalty in 2012, Proposition 34, was defeated with 53% of the vote against it.