California Democrats Reject the Death Penalty

For the first time in its history, the California Democratic Party has taken an official stand against the death penalty.

Although the platform doesn't mean that Democratic candidates must adopt such a view, it does reflect the changing public opinion that capital punishment is no longer considered political Kryptonite.

That's cause for celebration. And the language of the party's official policy goes still further, calling on Democrats to support replacing the death penalty "with a term of permanent incarceration, which will serve to protect the public, provide swift and certain justice for victims' families, and save the state an estimated $1 billion over the next five years."

Christine Thomas, a member of the committee that drafts the platform, tells the San Francisco Chronicle that the move means "being against the death penalty becomes the mainstream of the party." It's about time.

There are currently 686 people on California's death row, but only 13 have been executed in the last 34 years.

It's unclear how the party's move will affect views at the highest political levels. California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will be leaving office in 2011 (thanks to term limits), after wreaking enough havoc on the state's system. Jerry Brown, the likely Democratic nominee for governor, has long opposed the death penalty, but says he will "obey the law" if elected. It's possible he'll endorse this plank of the party's platform when nominated in November — but only if he gets the necessary public backing.

Unfortunately, the two Republican frontrunners both support the arbitrary state execution of poor people convicted of murder (okay, they didn't say it exactly like that).

California's platform change comes at a time when opposition to capital punishment continues to gain strength, slowly but surely. A New Hampshire panel reviewing the practice, for example, held a hearing last week that discussed wrongful convictions and the possibility of executing an innocent person.

Meanwhile, the Connecticut legislature passed a bill to ban capital punishment last year. Though it was vetoed by Gov. Jodi Rell, Rell is stepping down, and the two Democrats in the race have said they'd sign the bill. (The five Republicans in the running would veto it.)

The true sign of capital punishment's demise will come when state Republican parties start including abolition in their platforms (driven, perhaps, by how it fuels wasteful state spending?). But for now, we'll take progress where we can get it. Congratulations to the California Dems.

Photo Credit: scragz