Suzanne Shaw, NBC Bay Area Editorial Director, argues the death penalty frequently condemns society but rarely the convicted.
And now an NBC Bay Area Editorial:
California has built the most expensive, most overcrowded, and least effective death penalty system in the nation.
I'm Suzanne Shaw (NBC Bay Area Editorial Director)
The lawyer who wrote our death penalty law 33 years ago wants it abolished. A judge who imposed 10 death sentences wants it abolished. And a former San Quentin warden calls it "counterproductive." Ninety-nine percent of death row inmates have not been executed. Victims' families suffer years of appeals.
NBC Bay Area supports a new bill, SB 490 would give voters the choice to replace this arcane captial punishment with life in prison, no parole. The author, State Senator Loni Hancock says, "We're not tough on crime. We're tough on the taxpayer."
While police forces are being cut, the death penalty costs us $150 million a year.
Help support SB 490
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Previous 2011 Editorials:
July 10th, 2011
Power Politics Over Public Good?
June 26th, 2011
Is the Sun Setting on Our State Parks
June 12, 2011
The High Stakes of Higher Education
May 29th, 2011
Too Toxic for Our Toddlers
May 15th, 2011
Deregulate to Better Educate
May 1st, 2011
Oil Companies' Slick Tax Move
April 17th, 2011
Revamping Our Revenue Model
April 3rd 2011
Transit Costs Are Off the Rails
March 19th, 2011
The Price of Our Prisons
March 13th, 2011
Why is Green Tech Still a Foreign Concept?
February 27th, 2011
No Rebound Without Restructure
February 13th, 3022
Teacher Tenure
January 30th, 2011
What a Waste
January 16th, 2011
Governor Brown's Budget
January 2nd, 2011
2011 New Year's Resolutions
