Results 1 to 1 of 1

Thread: Which states can reinstate the death penalty, or hold a referendum on it, or both?

  1. #1
    Senior Member Frequent Poster Steven AB's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2019
    Posts
    277

    Which states can reinstate the death penalty, or hold a referendum on it, or both?

    Winston Churchill said about the death penalty: "If ever there were a case for a referendum, this is one on which the people should be allowed to express their own views and not irresponsible votes in the House of Commons."

    There have been a number of state popular votes on the matter in the United States since Furman v. Georgia, and the result has always been in favor of capital punishment, the three most recent in 2016.

    The existence of initiatives and referenda in many U.S. states and in none of E.U. members has been a decisive factor in retention of the death penalty by the former and not by the later.

    Other decisive differences to that regard in U.S. states compared to E.U. countries include legislative elections every two years instead of four or five years, election of state supreme judges, and as a general matter less power granted to officials not directly elected by the people.

    Only the oligarchy wants you to believe that it is scandalous that voters have control over public matters such as criminal justice.

    Indeed, politicians of E.U. countries are arrogantly saying to their citizens that they don’t want of these popular votes because that could or would result in reinstating the ultimate penalty, but European citizens will not accept that indefinitely.

    A 2019 study showed that support for the death penalty rise up to 86% if the proposed law is narrowed to horrific crimes such as child murder.

    http://www.cncpunishment.com/forums/...l=1#post139998

    Even in states already having the death penalty, popular votes can be held to improve it.

    California, for example, lacks a child murder aggravating factor in its statutes — but an initiative to add it would be worth the move only if another to repeal capital punishment were tried for the same date.

    Indeed, that could be the subject of two different bills. A first ballot initiative would propose to Californians to make punishable by death the murder of a child under the age of 10. Years later, if a new repeal initiative were tried, another initiative would ask the people to make a capital crime the murder of children between 10 and 15.

    Anyway, a popular vote for the death penalty in California would send a strong message that any gubernatorial moratorium is illegitimate and must end.

    Currently, there are 23 states where legislation can be referred to the people by the legislature itself.

    And 49 states where the legislature can refer to the people state constitutional amendments that can deal with the death penalty, but sometimes subject to some other hard requirements such as a two-thirds majority in each house. Oklahoma did so in 2016, as simple majorities are enough in this state.

    Also, there are five to seven states where the death penalty can legally be reinstated through the initiative process.

    The five states where this is certain are Alaska, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts and North Dakota.

    The two states where this is variable are:

    – Michigan, where that would require a combined constitutional and statutory initiative, and it’s unclear whether they allow it.

    Even a ballot drive only to remove the constitutional prohibition on the death penalty would allow citizens to express their position, and be a ground for the legislature to pass a statute reinstating it.

    – Washington, where that would require to wait a non-woke state supreme court.

    Ironically, if any more states repealed the death penalty in the future, the list of jurisdictions where such reinstatement by popular votes can happen would grow.

    Other states allowing initiated statutes are Arizona, Arkansas, California, Idaho, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming.

    Repeals are indeed opportunities for reinstatement not only by popular vote, but also by legislature vote, in Virginia for example.

    Such moves could moreover be a way to promote improved death penalty laws, with better-targeted aggravating factors, providing a penalty retrial when the jury deadlocks on sentencing, Proposition 66-like provisions to streamline the process, etc.

    With respect to popular votes, the main challenge of course would be funding. It has been found recently that police and correctional unions, and individual correction officers giving small amounts, were decisive in California Proposition 66 victory in 2016.

    https://pacificsun.com/capital-intensive/

    A cumulative way is to find one or more wealthy donators. The 2016 Nebraska referendum was funded by governor Pete Ricketts and his father billionaire Joe Ricketts.

    Maybe that Donald Trump or anyone else in the Trump family could be willing to donate. Many anti-death penalty donors in California were out-of-state, death penalty defenders have thus the right to do the same.
    Last edited by Steven AB; 08-24-2023 at 01:50 AM.
    "If ever there were a case for a referendum, this is one on which the people should be allowed to express their own views and not irresponsible votes in the House of Commons." — Winston Churchill, on the death penalty

    The self-styled "Death Penalty Information Center" is financed by the oligarchic European Union. — The Daily Signal

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •