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Capital punishment is not allowed to be carried out in the U.S. state of California, due to both a standing 2006 federal court order against the practice and a 2019 moratorium on executions ordered by Governor Gavin Newsom.[1] The litigation resulting in the court order has been on hold since the promulgation of the moratorium. Should the moratorium end and the freeze concluded, executions could resume under the current state law.[2][3]
The state carried out 709 executions from 1778[clarification needed] until 1972 when the California Supreme Court struck down California's capital punishment statute in the case People v. Anderson.[4][5] California voters reinstated the death penalty a few months later, with Proposition 17 legalizing the death penalty in the state constitution and ending the Anderson ruling. However, in the interim, the U.S. Supreme Court in Furman v. Georgia imposed a nationwide moratorium on capital punishment. Furman, along with continued challenges at the state level, delayed implementation of Proposition 17 for several years. As a result, the death penalty was not restored in California until after People v. Frierson in 1979. The state's first post-Anderson execution was carried out in 1992. Since that time, there have been 13 executions, yet hundreds of inmates have been sentenced. The last execution that took place in California was in 2006. Two people condemned in California, Kelvin Malone and Alfredo Prieto, have also been executed in Missouri and Virginia, respectively.[6][7]
As of October 2024[update], official California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) records show that there are 620 inmates awaiting execution in California, the lowest it has been since 2011, primarily due to suicide, death from other causes, fewer juries willing to sentence people to death, and resentencings by newly elected district attorneys, among other things. 20 of those with death sentences are women, held in general population at Central California Women's Facility (CCWF) in Chowchilla, with the other 600 inmates awaiting execution being men that are housed throughout the state, most having been transferred from the former death row at San Quentin State Prison.[8][9]
California voters rejected two initiatives to repeal the death penalty by popular vote in 2012 and 2016, and they narrowly adopted in 2016 another proposal to expedite its appeal process.[10] On August 26, 2021, the California Supreme Court upheld the state's death penalty rules though as of 2024 executions have yet to resume.[11]
- ^ "California governor to halt executions". BBC News. March 13, 2019. Retrieved March 13, 2019.
- ^ "D.A.-elect George Gascón's ban on new death sentences is a welcome change". Los Angeles Times. November 12, 2020. Retrieved February 1, 2021.
- ^ "Civil Rights Groups Accuse California District Attorneys of Unlawfully Interfering in Death Penalty Lawsuit". Death Penalty Information Center. March 11, 2021. Retrieved March 13, 2021.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
ruscinwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Cite error: The named reference
engelhardtwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "Inmates Executed 1978 to Present". Capital Punishment.
- ^ "Condemned Inmates Who Have Died Since 1978". Capital Punishment.
- ^ "Condemned Inmate List". California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Retrieved September 11, 2024.
- ^ "Condemned Inmate Transfer Program". Capital Punishment. California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. August 14, 2024. Retrieved October 19, 2024.
- ^ "California votes to keep death penalty". sacbee.com. Retrieved November 9, 2016.
- ^ Thompson, Don (August 26, 2021). "California Supreme Court upholds death penalty rules". Associated Press. Retrieved September 15, 2021.