After years of reports about the high costs of California​’s death penal­ty, includ­ing a recent study that found the state has already spent $4 bil­lion on cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment result­ing in 13 exe­cu­tions, a group of Californians has announced a cit­i­zens’ ini­tia­tive to put death penal­ty repeal on the 2012 bal­lot. The group, Taxpayers for Justice, includes over 100 law enforce­ment lead­ers, in addi­tion to crime-vic­tim advo­cates and exon­er­at­ed indi­vid­u­als. Among them is for­mer Los Angeles County District Attorney Gil Garcetti, whose office pur­sued dozens of cap­i­tal cas­es dur­ing his 32 years as a pros­e­cu­tor. He said, ​“My frus­tra­tion is more about the fact that the death penal­ty does not serve any use­ful pur­pose and it’s very expen­sive.” The high cost of California’s death penal­ty has gained atten­tion as the state faces major bud­get cuts. A study released in June by U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Arthur L. Alarcon found that California’s death penal­ty sys­tem is cur­rent­ly cost­ing the state about $184 mil­lion per year. In April, California Governor Jerry Brown can­celled plans to build a new death row, say­ing ​“It would be uncon­scionable to ear­mark $356 mil­lion for a new and improved death row while mak­ing severe cuts to edu­ca­tion and pro­grams that serve the most vul­ner­a­ble among us.” The bal­lot ini­tia­tive will be announced at a press con­fer­ence in Sacramento on August 29, with Jeanne Woodford, the for­mer war­den of San Quentin State Prison who over­saw four exe­cu­tions, as one of the speakers.

C. Williams, ​“California death penal­ty foes to try for bal­lot ini­tia­tive,” Los Angeles Times, August 26, 2011.) See also Costs and California. See DPIC’s Summary of Judge Alarcon’s cost study. See Press Release from Taxpayers for Justice.

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