A former warden at San Quentin State Prison is playing a leading role in the campaign for Proposition 34, which would abolish the death penalty in California.
In a meeting Tuesday with the Marin Independent Journal's editorial board, former warden Jeanne Woodford and other supporters of the Nov. 6 ballot initiative highlighted the millions of dollars they say would be saved by eliminating capital punishment.
Woodford, who served as warden at San Quentin from 1999 to 2004, cited a study released in 2011 by U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Arthur Alarcon that showed the death penalty had cost California $4 billion since its reinstatement in 1978 and would cost another $5 billion by 2030.
At the same time, 46 percent of the homicides in California go unsolved, as do 56 percent of rape cases, Woodford said.
"Really the best use of our resources is to move that money into solving those kinds of crimes," she said. In 2011, Woodford became executive director of Death Penalty Focus, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to educating the public about the death penalty and its alternatives.
Rebecca Popell of San Anselmo, 43, a volunteer working in Marin to abolish the death penalty, said, "I feel like number one, it's just too expensive. Why isn't that money going to education?"
Natasha Minsker said polls show that about 54 percent of the public supports replacing the death penalty with life imprisonment without possibility of parole.
"The more we talk to voters the number one question they ask about the initiative is: How much is this going to cost?," Minsker said. "And when we say this initiative actually saves money, that is what convinces people to support it. That is the driving factor for people right now."
Minsker said the average length of time between when a person is condemned to death and executed in California is 25 to 30 years. She said the national average is 15 years, but growing longer all the time.
Woodford said, "That is because they've found so many innocent people on death rows across the country, well over 100 now. They actually know they executed two innocent people in Texas.
"We now know because of DNA that people have been placed on death row based on eyewitness testimony that was just wrong. We also know that people will falsely confess to crimes, particularly young people and people who are developmentally disabled."
Read More: Marin IJ
Death Penalty in California needs reform, but converting all Condemned inmates to life without the possibility of parole is not the solution. I read the above article and I would like to point out some of the deceiving information Ms. Jeanne Woodford is putting in front of people.
ReplyDelete• We can still save millions of dollars on death penalty if we reform the system.
• California’s 9th Circuit court is the problem, which is inmate friendly.
• Her argument that we will spend 5 Billion on death penalty is projected cost assuming no reforms are made to the current system, and all numbers are not accurate they are just projections. (Projected Costs 2011–2030 [assuming no reforms are made to the current system]: $5.04 billion- http://media.lls.edu/documents/LoyolaLawReview_CADeathPenalty.pdf)
• Her argument that inmate will work and pay the victims is totally deceiving, those inmates will never hold a job and an inmate usually makes about $0.05 an hour and only 40% goes to the restitution, so figure out the numbers. Then imagine if you are the family member for the victim and getting $4-6 check every month from the killer of your loved one.
• She wants to put that saved money into solving more crimes, there is no set policy or system she has developed in which she describes how this money will be spent.
• I believe that 72% people of California in favor of death penalty, recent poll on this site, and also the people who been sent on death row has been sentenced by a jury who has looked at all the evidence and decide that those perpetrator should be put to death due to their heinous crimes.
• Woodford said, "That is because they've found so many innocent people on death rows across the country, well over 100 now. They actually know they executed two innocent people in Texas. There has been no evidence that any of California death row inmate is not guilty, so of them got off and received Life without the possibility of parole due to procedural mishap or some technicality, not being innocent of what they have done.
• "We now know because of DNA that people have been placed on death row based on eyewitness testimony that was just wrong. We also know that people will falsely confess to crimes, particularly young people and people who are developmentally disabled." Again in this foolish argument no example has been given and I am not even aware of one case in which the suspect has confessed and he was a developmentally disabled.
• Again Woodford and other people’s argument that the money will go to education is just a nice thing to say to people so they can vote yes on the ballot. So I think basically she has three arguments
o Death row costing the state too much
o Have inmate work and pay the victim’s family
o Saved money will go to education
o And some people are innocent and we don’t wana kill innocent people
In my argument, fix the death row, reform and have a functioning death row, shouldn’t have to wait more than 15 years to execute a condemned inmate, house inmates in a desert prison not in San Quentin, which is equipped with the resources to deal with those inmates. These people deserve to get the punishment which is scribed by a jury due to the special circumstances in which their original crime has committed. Change the Penal code in which eligibility to receive the death penalty is lot tougher and it will only be for those people who really deserve the death penalty. Their crime would be heinous enough to shock the human conscious.
Here is a list of some of the Condemned inmates you will be releasing if you vote yes on this Proposition 34, ballot measure:-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Quentin_State_Prison Look under notable criminals
Anon, I have been saying this very thing in a much less eloquent way. I agree 100%.
ReplyDeleteWith that being said, are any of us shocked by the position she has taken regarding the death penalty? When she was our warden those inmates had it made. But to be fair...WE DID TOO! Some of our partners got away with unthinkable things with very little to no punishment. She is a very forgiving woman and it obviously extends to the dishonest, felonious segment of our population as well as the officers who repeatedly sullied the badge with little to no consequences under her leadership.
Inject them or get rid of the"Death" in death penalty. LWOP and they will thin themselves out the `ol fashion way...
ReplyDeletehttp://voteno34.org/
ReplyDeleteJ. Woodford what a joke! Death Penalty needs reform not to end it. Make the judges accountable to speed up appeals process. We need to start executing ASAP!
ReplyDeleteAll Woodford's claims fail under fact checking.
ReplyDelete1) Cost Studies Totally Unreliable
There is zero credible evidence that ending the death penalty will save $130 million per year or that such ending will make available an additional $100 million to help investigations of murder or rape cases.
So far, the cost studies have been a horrendous and misleading joke, easily uncovered by fact checking, which few seem to be interested in.
Response to Absurd California Death Penalty Cost “Study”
http://goo.gl/RbQDU
2) 95% of Murder Victim Survivors Support Death Penalty
"US Death Penalty Support at 80%: World Support Remains High"
http://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2012/04/us-death-penalty-support-at-80-world.html
3) Innocents Better Protected with Death Penalty
Of all endeavors that put innocents at risk, is there one with a better record of sparing innocent lives than the US death penalty? Unlikely.
The Death Penalty: Saving More Innocent Lives
http://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2012/03/death-penalty-saving-more-innocent.html
Innocents More At Risk Without Death Penalty
http://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2012/03/innocents-more-at-risk-without-death.html