Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Death Penatly Ban Initiative Circulating

A new initiative is being circulated for the November 2012 ballot. The Savings, Accountability and Full Enforcement Act (SAFE) will ban the death penalty in California and replace it with life without parole.

I'll be circulating a petition or two. I'd consider myself generally opposed to the death penalty but I'm not the type that sheds tears over the execution of some of the scuzbags that have been executed. If nothing else I think we spend too much money on the death penalty with little to show for it. I also tend to be appalled at the cavalier attitudes many have towards someone being executed by The State: Oh, well. He must have done something wrong!

So I'm here to help.

This was another one of those instances with the news media where I couldn't find a point of contact for petitions. No links to the proponent organization on the few news articles I could find. I hate it when that happens. Why can't the newspapers provide links for both proponents and opponents for a measure?

A quick search for info on SAFE did lead me to their web site where I added my e-mail address and zip code to their list. I quickly received an e-mail that provided a link to give them my name and address so I should get a petition or two when they become available.

If you'd like to do the same, go to the SAFE web site and give them your info.

3 Comments:

At 1:48 PM, Anonymous charles martin said...

If someone I knew was killed I would want revenge. However, we have jurys that decide without the personal feelings involved. Killing someone legaly serves no purpose and the years spent in prison awaiting cost far more than life without parole. A civilized nation does not kill.

 
At 3:14 PM, Blogger Fred Mangels said...

Hey, Charles (if this is the same Charles Martin I'm thinking of). Long time in hearing from you.

I've heard better arguments against the death penalty than for it, but I don't consider myself a bleeding heart for generally opposing it.

I wonder if we shouldn't leave it a matter of choice? Make it so you can only sentence to life w/o parole but allow the defendant to chose death after he's convicted. I've heard even death penalty proponents argue against that as they don't like the idea of it being his choice.

I figure it should make everyone happy. We wouldn't have to deal with the death penalty issues during the trial phase. Should he get convicted and he doesn't want to spend his life in prison he can opt out by asking to be put to death. I think that offer should apply to all life term inmates, sick as some feel it may sound.

I realize there's probably no way to make something like that work, but it makes sense to me otherwise.

 
At 10:26 AM, Anonymous charles martin said...

Making everyone happy is not faceing the problem. It is just an attempt to make everyone feel good without making the hard choice.

We as a society are judged on how we treat the misfits. If that includes the mentaly challanged why not those scared by society regardless of their offences?

 

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