The death penalty in California is imposed arbitrarily and capriciously based on geographical location and the discretion of prosecutors rather than factors related to the comparative egregiousness of the crime and relative culpability of the defendant.
In California, the 58 prosecutors (district attorneys) are given absolute discretion to decide whether to seek the death penalty within the already broad parameters of penal code sections 190.2 and 190.25 (California's death penalty statue).
Without any statewide standards to guide or govern a prosecutor in making due decision to seek the death penalty for a defendant as opposed to a life sentence, a prosecutor can simply feel like or believe a death sentence is warranted, which oftentimes violates the very core of constitutional commitment to decency and restraint.
Without established standards to guide the exercise of discretion, prosecutors rely on irrelevant and often unlawful considerations, including race, economic status, gender, and victim status. This is happening! As a result, there is currently no reasonable basis for the distinction between who receives the death sentence and another who is sentenced to life in prison.
I stumbled across your blog by chance, and went back and read each post, your writing is very well done! Being from the Midwest I had not heard your story, and surprisingly when I went lookinhyi could find hardly any information at all which I found strange. I would be so interested to hear your side and what led up to it but realize you have to be careful if you are working towards an appeal. Any, thanks for sharing your thoughts, take care.
Hi, I've just finished transcribing your writing for Between the Bars. I'm sorry for your troubles at work but it's really great that you have decided to get out of that bad situation and find a new position. I wish you all the best in it. I really enjoyed reading your letter - you have a very engaging style and the Bible passage really helped bring your message to life.
Stumbling upon your drawings, your positivity and inner peace has really been a joy.
Your calmness, strength and spituality is contagious.
I wish your word could be spread cos I believe the help you could bring to rehabilitate those in similar situations.
My name is Mel, from a tiny Country called New Zealand. Our prison system is VERY different, our sentencing is small in comparison but our reincarnation rates are high. I hope to help reduce this, and I hope you don’t mind If i share your work with them? I think you work and words would resonate with them.
I think the difference is that we have social media. And while social media has a million negative aspects. It also gives us the ability to talk and to communicate. To comment on those ads with people who we would never have been able to talk to before. I think it's given to ability for people to create a collective voice where they may not have been able to before.
He's a prisoner of his mind. In no way am i sympathizing with him, but imagine how horrible it would be to wake up to tendencies like that? Don't be a prisoner of your anger. It's not worth it. I hope you can see your beautiful child again sooner and it looks like you're taking the right steps to ensure that. I just wanted to say that I'm glad :)
What a beautiful drawing!That's some real talent. Isn't it amazing to be in touch with our feelings? Even though it can hurt and that pain, that physical sensation, that could never be dissected and never seen, but that's still fully physical and can radiate and shake your body, that can bring you to the lowest , slowest, most arduous climb you've been on, it can also elevate you to heights you've never seen before, that will take your breath away. I am a 25yo female, I have a decent job, I'm educated, I live in a safe neighbourhood and while I've never spent one day locked away in cell or had the shadows of those bars paint the walls of my room, I do now what it is to make major mistakes and I do know what it is to see your life transform into a tornado that with every passing second of its being causes more destruction and havoc and picks up more and more damaged bits and pieces. I feel like I could've done so much more with my life. I know I had the ability to do more. I think my problem was self doubt and just being born sensitive. Where even though I seemed stoic, people's words hit me more so like a hard kick in the stomach instead of a superficial cut of the skin. My bleeding was internal. No one could see that there was something wrong with me so no one could run to my aid with a band-aid to clean up my wound. I seemed better where I was actually worse - my wounds were more complicated. I just think if I had one more plus added to my equation something else could've became of me. I also think if i had just one more minus added to that equation how much worse could I have been? That's why I'm here and that's why I'm writing this paragraph on a warm and beautiful Sunday, one of summer's last. Because I want to be that + in someones equation. I wanted to let you know that that drawing is beautiful. That those words are touching. That you have talent and that I believe in you and that you matter. In all of you. I know that most of the prison population are not inherently bad people. They're just people that needed another plus in their equation. With one more minus or one stroke of bad luck, maybe I could've been in there with you. My life was no doubt a struggle, but I'm starting to believe in myself and even though neither you and I can change the way our past choices have lead up to where we are in this very second, we can still change our future. We can transform our mind into a beautiful, fertile valley of hills and grass and the smell of wildflowers, where things can grow and they can flourish. We can make the best of the situation we're in. I believe in you Lowlife! I hope you have a wonderful day. - Sincerely another human being. DG.
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An Unjust Imposition
The death penalty in California is imposed arbitrarily and capriciously based on geographical location and the discretion of prosecutors rather than factors related to the comparative egregiousness of the crime and relative culpability of the defendant.
In California, the 58 prosecutors (district attorneys) are given absolute discretion to decide whether to seek the death penalty within the already broad parameters of penal code sections 190.2 and 190.25 (California's death penalty statue).
Without any statewide standards to guide or govern a prosecutor in making due decision to seek the death penalty for a defendant as opposed to a life sentence, a prosecutor can simply feel like or believe a death sentence is warranted, which oftentimes violates the very core of constitutional commitment to decency and restraint.
Without established standards to guide the exercise of discretion, prosecutors rely on irrelevant and often unlawful considerations, including race, economic status, gender, and victim status. This is happening! As a result, there is currently no reasonable basis for the distinction between who receives the death sentence and another who is sentenced to life in prison.
Cond.Case Files:
File No. COD718
Stumbling upon your drawings, your positivity and inner peace has really been a joy.
Your calmness, strength and spituality is contagious.
I wish your word could be spread cos I believe the help you could bring to rehabilitate those in similar situations.
My name is Mel, from a tiny Country called New Zealand. Our prison system is VERY different, our sentencing is small in comparison but our reincarnation rates are high. I hope to help reduce this, and I hope you don’t mind If i share your work with them? I think you work and words would resonate with them.
Keep speaking your truth.
Mel