License To Kill

James Bond secret agent 007 has a license to kill, but he is a fictional character. The State of California and 40 other states now have a license to kill. In 1978 the voting populace reinstated the death penalty in California. The state has been given the right to take someone’s life under certain circumstances. What gives us the right to put another human being to death? Are we God?

Why did the people and the legislature feel the need to reinstate the death penalty? What were they thinking when they went to the polls? Were they thinking that the death penalty was a deterrent or a possible retribution for the crime? Did they consider that a jury can make a mistake, and an innocent person could be sentenced to death?

When a young gang-banger goes out and kills someone for an initiation, do you think his mind considers the consequences? Does a person, filled with rage, stop and think what will happen when he kills someone? Crimes of passion are most often committed spontaneously, with no thought to what will happen in the future.

The State of California has had legalized executions since the 1800's. The Criminal Practices Act of 1851 gave us the first legal execution in California. On February 14, 1872, Capital punishment was incorporated into the penal code. March 3, 1893, was the date of the first state conducted execution. In 1972 the California Supreme Court found that the death penalty constituted cruel and unusual punishment under the state constitution. In 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the death penalty was unconstitutional as it was being administered at that time in a number of states because it did not allow the defendant to present any evidence in mitigation. In 1977 the California State Legislature reinstated the death penalty. In November of 1978, Proposition Seven on the California ballot, was passed and superseded the 1977 statute. This is the death penalty statute under which California currently operates. The first execution, after Proposition Seven passed, was held in April 1992.

The cost to the taxpayer, when imposing the death penalty, is continually escalating with each passing year. When you compare the cost of a trial where the death penalty is sought, to a non-capitol case you can see the difference. A capital case cost $1.1 Millon in Los Angeles County and a non-capitol case cost approximately $700,000. When you include the cost of appeals over the years, you see the price spiral upwards.

It doesn’t matter how terrible the crime; what do we get besides satisfaction, when we put the perpetrator to death? The families of victims are looking for revenge and justice. They have one goal in mind; death to the person who committed this heinous event.

The time has come for the people of California to again make an educated decision concerning the death penalty. We can no longer extract an eye for eye to make the families of victims feel that justice has been served. It’s time to put an end to the death penalty.

A license to kill is real and not fiction. As of December 2023, there were 582 men and 19 women on Death Row in California. The State moved all of these inmates into general population as of May 2024. All of these people are in various stages of the appeal process. Will justice be served by activating their death sentences? Why can’t we make the sentence life without parole, with no exceptions? The victims and their families will always be victims until they learn to forgive, then they will be able to move on.