California’s Death Penalty System
In the New York Times (28. Sept, A14+) article, “Californians Face Stark Choices on Death Penalty”, Jennifer Medina focuses on the issues with California’s current death penalty system. The state’s system currently prolongs the time period between conviction and execution, which deems it unconstitutional. The courts are unfit to handle the workload of death row cases. Also, the death penalty system costs the state a great amount of money. California is voting to reform their system this November. The state will either abolish the system or quicken the process. Medina informs her readers about California’s broken death penalty system that demands ratification.
Death row inmates in California have little to …show more content…
Medina states, “there are not enough lawyers with the ability to handle the cases to move cases off the docket,” (A16). California’s shortage of skillful lawyers will cause a delay in the process. The state requires qualified lawyer willing to deal with death penalty cases, if the state is to support capital punishment. This creates an issue for supporters of the death penalty. “Proposition 66, would speed up the executions by accelerating appeals for inmates on death row,” (Medina A14). The goal is to decrease the time between conviction and execution to ten to fifteen years, half of the current time (St. John). The state needs an increase in qualified lawyers to speed up the processing of death penalty cases. Ellen Kreitzberg, a law professor, says that in counties with a high death penalty conviction the court spends thirty-five percent of their time on death penalty cases. (Medina A16). With the court’s spending an abundance of time on one particular case type, they are distracted from other serious cases, such as rape, not eligible for the death penalty sentence. Also, this could prolong the process of other case types, in addition to the death penalty cases. For California to quicken the process of death penalty cases, they need to increase the number of skilled lawyers their courts have
In the New York Times (28. Sept, A14+) article, “Californians Face Stark Choices on Death Penalty”, Jennifer Medina focuses on the issues with California’s current death penalty system. The state’s system currently prolongs the time period between conviction and execution, which deems it unconstitutional. The courts are unfit to handle the workload of death row cases. Also, the death penalty system costs the state a great amount of money. California is voting to reform their system this November. The state will either abolish the system or quicken the process. Medina informs her readers about California’s broken death penalty system that demands ratification.
Death row inmates in California have little to …show more content…
Medina states, “there are not enough lawyers with the ability to handle the cases to move cases off the docket,” (A16). California’s shortage of skillful lawyers will cause a delay in the process. The state requires qualified lawyer willing to deal with death penalty cases, if the state is to support capital punishment. This creates an issue for supporters of the death penalty. “Proposition 66, would speed up the executions by accelerating appeals for inmates on death row,” (Medina A14). The goal is to decrease the time between conviction and execution to ten to fifteen years, half of the current time (St. John). The state needs an increase in qualified lawyers to speed up the processing of death penalty cases. Ellen Kreitzberg, a law professor, says that in counties with a high death penalty conviction the court spends thirty-five percent of their time on death penalty cases. (Medina A16). With the court’s spending an abundance of time on one particular case type, they are distracted from other serious cases, such as rape, not eligible for the death penalty sentence. Also, this could prolong the process of other case types, in addition to the death penalty cases. For California to quicken the process of death penalty cases, they need to increase the number of skilled lawyers their courts have