Capital Punishment Controversy: Proposition 34

With the hold on executions, the death row keeps growing and California has become the state with the most inmates for capital punishment. In the California 2012 ballot, Proposition 34 was created as a resolution but failed to successfully pass. This controversy of whether the death penalty should be abolished or kept, has brought up similar new initiatives in an effort to repair the system’s problems. The new initiative would propose two paths for the future voters in 2016, either pro-death or anti-death penalty. So as a future voter, concerns arise and the decision to support the anti-death penalty comes with more benefits. It is a system that spends billions of dollars and can mistakenly execute criminals; therefore, California would save money and lives from the abolition of the death penalty. Proposition 34 was an intent to fix the flaws in the system but it fell short on …show more content…
The family wants closure “ [t]he thought of a murderer living out his days in a comfortable jail cell after a loved one has been brutally murdered can be unbearable” (Hance et.al. 7). They want to be over with the situation and have revenge for the victim, but the process is long. It has been years since a victim was executed. The anti-death penalty initiative would require the prisoner to work to pay fines to the families and have life-imprisonment without parole. So this new initiative would favor the family since the prisoner would be paying fines for the loss. Even though the life of a loved one is not recovered, the death penalty has too many delays that it would take years for complete closure. Not having closure can reopen wounds for the family and bring sadness in every occasion (Hance et al. 7). On the other hand, the offender 's parents are devalued and not considered. They also suffer since many mark them as irresponsible parents who could not control their