LA Times Editorial – Proposition 34’s common-sense appeal

October 24, 2012

Proposition 34, the measure to replace the death penalty in California with a sentence of life without the possibility of parole, appears to be struggling. Last month, a USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll found the initiative trailing 38% to 51%, although other surveys, such as a Field Poll released in September, showed a closer margin of 42% in favor and 45% against.

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Pacific Sun – The executioner’s song: Former San Quentin warden Jeanne Woodford says Californians should flip the switch on the death penalty

by Jill Kramer

Who could be better qualified to address what’s wrong with the death penalty than the warden who oversaw all executions in the state of California from 1999-2004? Jeanne Woodford, who left her job as San Quentin warden to head the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation for three years, now campaigns to end the death penalty once and for all.

Executed At 14: George Stinney’s Birthday Reminds Us That The Death Penalty Must End

George Junius Stinney Jr., the 14-year-old Black boy who died as the youngest person ever executed in the United States in the 20th century, would have been 83-years-old this Sunday.

Instead, his birthday will serve as a haunting reminder of why the death penalty needs to be abolished.

When two White girls, 11-year-old Betty June Binnicker and 8-year-old Mary Emma Thames, went missing in Alcolu, S.C., on March 22, 1944, after riding in to town on their bicycles, Stinney was arrested the following day for allegedly murdering them.

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