Gil Garcetti, the for­mer dis­trict attor­ney of Los Angeles who pur­sued numer­ous death sen­tences, recent­ly said California​’s death penal­ty is dys­func­tion­al and the resources spent on it should be divert­ed to more press­ing needs. In an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times, Garcetti said the death penal­ty caus­es ongo­ing tor­ment to fam­i­ly mem­bers and friends of mur­der vic­tims: ​“The liv­ing vic­tims of a par­tic­u­lar crime might think that a death ver­dict pro­vides clo­sure, but for most, there was no such clo­sure.” Garcetti said state funds spent on imple­ment­ing the death penal­ty can be bet­ter used else­where: ​“California’s death penal­ty does not and can­not func­tion the way its sup­port­ers want it to. It is also an incred­i­bly cost­ly penal­ty, and the mon­ey would be far bet­ter spent keep­ing kids in school, keep­ing teach­ers and coun­selors in their schools and giv­ing the juve­nile jus­tice sys­tem the resources it needs. Spending our tax dol­lars on actu­al­ly pre­vent­ing crimes, instead of pur­su­ing death sen­tences after they’ve already been com­mit­ted, will assure us we will have fewer victims .…”

Gil Garcetti was dis­trict attor­ney of Los Angeles County from 1992 to 2000. This op-ed is a response to a March 25 Times Op-Ed arti­cle on California’s death penalty.

(G. Garcetti, ​“California’s Death Penalty Doesn’t Serve Justice,” Los Angeles Times, March 25, 2011). Read Editorials on the death penal­ty. See Costs and Victims.

Citation Guide