Ending California's Wasteful Tinkering With The Machinery Of Death

California's death penalty needs to be abolished.  Putting aside the philosophical and spiritual questions about the immorality of the death penalty, it is costly, arbitrary, discriminatory, and unworkable.  It serves no useful purpose while diverting needed resources from true public safety programs.  (See, e.g., Death Rattle For California, California's Unusually Cruel Death Penalty, California's Dysfunctional Death Penalty, Just Say No; State of Barbarism.)

Ending the death penalty in California can only be done by a ballot initiative.  The statewide signature‑gathering effort to place such an initiative on the November 2012 ballot is being launched this week.

Over the next few days, the “Savings, Accountability, and Full Enforcement for California Act" will be introduced to voters by law enforcement leaders, murder victim family members, exonerated persons and notable campaign supporters in San Francisco, San Jose, Los Angeles and San Diego.

After that, it will be time to get busy -- raising funds, recruiting volunteers and gathering signatures.

The SAFE California Act, if enacted, would replace California's multi‑billion dollar death penalty with life imprisonment without parole and require those convicted of murder to work and pay restitution to victim families through the victim compensation fund.  The SAFE California Act would also set aside $100 million in budget saving for local law enforcement for the investigation of unsolved rape and murder cases.

Click here for more information, to join the effort, or to donate.