Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Walters: California’s Death Penalty Is Reconsidered Again
dan_walters
By Dan Walters, CalMatters Commentary
Published 4 years ago on
June 7, 2021

Share

California’s evolution into a cultural melange in the latter half of the 20th century posed a question that still looms: Can such a complex society achieve the broad social consensus that’s a prerequisite for effective governance?

One can apply the question to just about any specific issue that has defied resolution. Two obvious examples are our never-ending conflicts over the distribution of water — raging anew due to drought — and housing. But there are many others, demonstrating that the only constant about California’s cultural values is that they constantly change.

Chessman ‘The Red Light Bandit’

Dan Walters

Opinion

A bellwether of California’s ever-shifting cultural landscape is capital punishment. The issue has been simmering, and occasionally boiling over, for more than seven decades, beginning in 1948 when Caryl Chessman, dubbed the Red Light Bandit, was sentenced to death for a series of violent robberies and rapes in the Los Angeles area.

Chessman professed his innocence and became a cause célèbre for those who believed that capital punishment was immoral or at least unfairly applied. Before and after his execution, there were countless newspaper and magazine articles, at least one play and a biographical movie about the Chessman case.

Chessman himself wrote four books while his post-conviction appeals bounced around the courts and finally ended in 1960 when then-Gov. Pat Brown — a death penalty opponent —refused to block his execution, even spurning a plea from his son, future Gov. Jerry Brown.

Debate Over the Death Penalty

Ever since, the death penalty has ridden a rollercoaster, the subject of multiple battles in the courts, in the Legislature and in ballot measures. Sometimes, federal courts and the state Supreme Court have ruled against it, both generally and in specific cases, but voters have tended to support it, most recently in 2016 by rejecting a ballot measure to abolish it.

Despite that public support, when Gavin Newsom became governor in 2019 he ordered prison authorities not to execute any of the more than 700 inmates on San Quentin Prison’s death row, declaring capital punishment to be racially biased and morally repugnant.

More recently, Newsom has ordered a new investigation into a case eerily similar to that of Caryl Chessman — the death sentence imposed on Kevin Cooper after conviction for four Southern California murders in 1983. Cooper, who is Black and asserts his innocence, has become, like Chessman, a symbolic cause for those who oppose the death penalty.

Newsom assigned the investigation to a private law firm that has represented Death Row inmates, signaling that he may overturn Cooper’s conviction.

Finally, the state Supreme Court once again faces the issue in the form of a challenge to how juries decide whether convicted killers should be sentenced to death. Last week, the court heard oral arguments over whether juries should be required to use the same “beyond a reasonable doubt” standard in penalty decisions as they must use in convictions.

Support for Capital Punishment Diminishing

Were the court to impose the requested standard, it probably would be a de facto moratorium on executions even though California’s death penalty would remain in law.

Once, not too many years ago, contests for governor and other high offices could hinge on the issue. In 1986, three state Supreme Court justices were ousted because they were deemed to be anti-death penalty.

However, polls indicate that California voters’ support for capital punishment, last expressed in 2016, is slowly diminishing.

California has not had an execution since 2006 and whether by gubernatorial decree or judicial decision, it may be the last one — at least until and unless cultural tides shift again.

CalMatters is a public interest journalism venture committed to explaining how California’s state Capitol works and why it matters. For more stories by Dan Walters, go to calmatters.org/commentary.
[activecampaign form=31]

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

Wired Wednesday: CEMEX’s New Mining Plan for the San Joaquin River

DON'T MISS

Trump Fires NSC Officials a Day After Far-Right Activist Raises Concerns to Him

DON'T MISS

China Halts Approvals for New US Investment Projects

DON'T MISS

Measles Spreads to Central Texas; 5 States Have Active Outbreaks

DON'T MISS

Trump Tariff Fears Erase $2 Trillion From US Stocks

DON'T MISS

Startup Offers Controversial Microplastic Blood Cleansing Treatment

DON'T MISS

Senate Confirms Mehmet Oz to Take Lead of Medicare and Medicaid Agency

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

Pence Will Receive the Profile in Courage Award From the JFK Library for His Actions on Jan. 6

DON'T MISS

Politics Turns Ugly for a Conservative Running for Fresno State Student Body President

UP NEXT

Trump Fires NSC Officials a Day After Far-Right Activist Raises Concerns to Him

UP NEXT

China Halts Approvals for New US Investment Projects

UP NEXT

Measles Spreads to Central Texas; 5 States Have Active Outbreaks

UP NEXT

Trump Tariff Fears Erase $2 Trillion From US Stocks

UP NEXT

Startup Offers Controversial Microplastic Blood Cleansing Treatment

UP NEXT

Senate Confirms Mehmet Oz to Take Lead of Medicare and Medicaid Agency

UP NEXT

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

UP NEXT

Pence Will Receive the Profile in Courage Award From the JFK Library for His Actions on Jan. 6

UP NEXT

Pentagon’s Watchdog to Review Hegseth’s Use of Signal App to Convey Plans for Houthi Strike

UP NEXT

President Trump’s Tariffs Could Be the Political Tipping Point

Measles Spreads to Central Texas; 5 States Have Active Outbreaks

4 hours ago

Trump Tariff Fears Erase $2 Trillion From US Stocks

4 hours ago

Startup Offers Controversial Microplastic Blood Cleansing Treatment

4 hours ago

Senate Confirms Mehmet Oz to Take Lead of Medicare and Medicaid Agency

5 hours ago

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

7 hours ago

Pence Will Receive the Profile in Courage Award From the JFK Library for His Actions on Jan. 6

7 hours ago

Politics Turns Ugly for a Conservative Running for Fresno State Student Body President

7 hours ago

Pentagon’s Watchdog to Review Hegseth’s Use of Signal App to Convey Plans for Houthi Strike

7 hours ago

President Trump’s Tariffs Could Be the Political Tipping Point

8 hours ago

Order That Kept Water in the Kern River Reversed by 5th District Court of Appeal

9 hours ago

Wired Wednesday: CEMEX’s New Mining Plan for the San Joaquin River

GV Wire’s Edward Smith talks with KMPH Fox 26 “Great Day” anchor Christina Rodriguez about the possibility of CEMEX digging a 600-foot hole ...

2 hours ago

2 hours ago

Wired Wednesday: CEMEX’s New Mining Plan for the San Joaquin River

President Donald Trump speaks during an event to announce new tariffs in the Rose Garden at the White House, Wednesday, April 2, 2025, in Washington. (AP/Mark Schiefelbein)
3 hours ago

Trump Fires NSC Officials a Day After Far-Right Activist Raises Concerns to Him

3 hours ago

China Halts Approvals for New US Investment Projects

4 hours ago

Measles Spreads to Central Texas; 5 States Have Active Outbreaks

4 hours ago

Trump Tariff Fears Erase $2 Trillion From US Stocks

4 hours ago

Startup Offers Controversial Microplastic Blood Cleansing Treatment

Dr. Mehmet Oz, President Donald Trump's pick to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, seated right, gives a thumbs-up alongside his wife Lisa Oz, seated left, with friends and family after he testified at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Finance Committee, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Friday, March 14, 2025. (AP/Ben Curtis)
5 hours ago

Senate Confirms Mehmet Oz to Take Lead of Medicare and Medicaid Agency

7 hours ago

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend