November 2, 2012 | 11:16 AM | By

Poll: Death Penalty Repeal Gains Ground

FILED UNDER: Ballot Measures, Criminal Justice, Issues, Nov. 6, 2012, Reforming Government, Death Penalty, Prop 34

The ballot measure to repeal California’s death penalty and replace it with life without parole appears to be gaining ground, according to the latest Field Poll.

For the first time, supporters of Proposition 34 outnumber opponents, 45 percent to 38 percent.

But a fairly large portion, 17 percent, are undecided.

Field Poll Director Mark DiCamillo says voters seem persuaded by the argument that the death penalty is more expensive than life in prison.

“Back in 1989, voters by a 2-1 margin felt that it was cheaper to implement the death penalty than to house somebody in prison for life,” he said. “Now, more voters — by a 5-3 margin — think its actually cheaper to house prisoners for life.”

The Field Poll shows support is strongest in the Bay Area.

More coverage on Proposition 34 here.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100003395586242 Cat Burke

    Tuesday, November 6th would have been Saskia Burke’s 19th Birthday…

    Saskia was only 18 years-1 month-14 days-28 minutes old, in the middle of her Senior Year of High School, when she was brutally stabbed to death in a violent Mass Murderous Attack on her entire family!

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anh4Wyb1pNw&feature=share

    I raised Saskia to believe – ONE PERSON CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE! Let that person be Saskia! Start, by voting

    NO on Proposition 34 !

    Join me in putting political views, religious beliefs, and personal feelings aside – to KEEP THE CURRENT LAW IN PLACE! Throughout the history of our country, laws became effectiveonly after someone had reason enough to stand before us and lead the way! I stand before you now – and Saskia is my reason!

    In this election year what becomes MOST important – is fixing our broken Justice System to actually uphold the CURRENT VERDICT!

    LOS ANGELES, Calif., Oct. 30, 2012 – Seven days before the November election, former Governors Gray Davis, Pete Wilson and George Deukmejian, along with Southern California public safety officials and nationally-recognized crime victims’ advocates today made a final push urging Californians to preserve justice and vote NO on Proposition 34. Funded by the ACLU and out-of-state special interest groups, Prop 34 would abolish California’s death penalty. It will put public safety at risk, cost California taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars, and let more than 700 serial killers, cop killers and child killers who brutally raped and tortured their victims – ESCAPE JUSTICE!

    The ACLU and other Prop 34 supporters have become experts in using false claims to mislead voters about the so-called cost savings of abolishing the death penalty. Initially, they argued that it would “save hundreds of millions and redirect $100 million to solve rapes and murders.” A Superior Court Judge ruled these claims were “a matter of opinion” and “hyperbole.” He ordered supporters to remove misleading claims that Proposition 34′s $100 million expenditure was tied to savings of any kind.

    For each and EVERY day of Saskia’s life,
    I took responsibility TO her – and FOR her…

    We currently HAVE A LAW –
    That says IF a MURDERER is found GUILTY of an
    EXTREMELY Brutal & Heinous act of MURDER – as ONLY 2% of ALL MURDERER’S are – this MURDERER can receive ultimate consequence for such a CHOICE – THE DEATH PENALTY.

    The moral CONSEQUENCE of such a MURDER – IS – the Death Penalty!

    This law was enacted, as a society, to keep us safe…

    Those FEW who are given the Death Sentence are forever a danger to everyone they may come in contact with. Because they kill, without conscience…

    William Gary Simpson does not REGRET WHAT HE HAS DONE…
    He does not FEEL REMORSE FOR MURDERING SASKIA BURKE!
    HE FEELS NOTHING BUT – PLEASURE ! FOR ALL HE HAS TAKEN…

    Each MURDERER found GUILTY of committing such crimes against humanity SHOULD experience the CONSEQUENCES of his or her ACTIONS -

    Yet WE take it upon OURSELVES – and pick sides on this issue.
    In doing so, we are taking responsibility – FOR EACH MURDERER’S CHOICE!

    I REFUSE TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY, FOR WHAT
    WILLIAM GARY SIMPSON
    CHOSE TO DO…

    William Gary Simpson stabbed Saskia in her left cheek, the force of the knife breaking her 3 molars on her bottom left jaw, shoving the knife all the way through her face, the blade going out her right cheek…

    AFTER PULLING THE KNIFE OUT, he stabbed her again, the force of the knife going into her right cheek, at a downward angle, slicing through her tongue, cutting through the muscle and tendons in her jaw and severing her artery, all 12+ inches of the blade going in all the way to her heart…

    After PULLING THE KNIFE OUT AGAIN, he then stabbed her in the chest – severing both her lungs and the ventricle to her heart…

    She lived long enough for us to helplessly watch her DIE!

    Every time I read the word “murder”, I see the image in my mind of the heinous brutal violence done to the Victim. I think of how scared, how terrified that victim was to die, and the horrible pain suffered in those last moments… As the victim died alone, at the hands of such a monster! Some things are very hard to acknowledge…

    I have had no choice in my life, but to acknowledge what was done to my own child… To our entire family, in our own home… I awoke to her screams that morning, as

    Saskia was so BRUTALLY BEING STABBED TO DEATH…
    How she SCREAMED IN PAIN AND TERROR!
    How she SCREAMED FOR HER DADDY TO SAVE HER!
    The images of her BRUTALLY RAVAGED BODY,
    Laying dead on the floor-
    I will live with, forever…

    I will – NEVER FORGET
    LOOKING INTO WILLIAM GARY SIMPSON’S SMILING FACE,
    THE HORROR OF REALIZING – WHO HE WAS!!!

    This attack changed me in too many NEGATIVE WAYS –
    TO EVER BE PART OF SOCIETY AGAIN…
    TO ALLOW ME TO EVER BE A MOTHER, AGAIN…
    TO EVER LET ME EXPERIENCE HAPPINESS OR JOY, EVER AGAIN!

    And this damage done TO ME? I fear I will carry this damage for ETERNITY – it has fundamentally changed my soul, the very fiber of my being…

    I can no longer see the beauty, in life…

    And I have lost ALL FAITH – IN THE GOODNESS OF MANDKIND!

    What I say may be harsh! But only the absolute truth of things can make society open their eyes… For it could never begin to compare with how MONSTROUS BEING MURDERED was to each Victim…

    NOTHING WILL BRING OUR DAUGHTER SASKIA BACK!

    NOTHING WILL EVER RESTORE OUR FAMILY!

    BUT, my 13 year-old daughter Kessa desires to have a life
    BEYOND ALL OF THIS!

    She desires, TO ONCE AND FOR ALL, put it behind her.

    And she can NEVER DO THAT – if she must spend the REST OF HER LIFE within the JUSTICE SYSTEM -
    FIGHTING TO KEEP WILLIAM GARY SIMPSON BEHIND BARS!

    For that is exactly what WILL HAPPEN – IF THE DEATH PENALTY IS REPLACED WITH LIFE IN PRISON!

    Kessa desires to be SET FREE – FROM THE GRIP HE HAS TAKEN ON HER LIFE!

    When William Gary Simpson CHOSE to come into our home that morning and MURDER ALL OF US,

    HE TOOK CONTROL of our lives – FROM US !

    To say, we should take BACK CONTROL OVER OUR OWN LIVES – to you, this may seem very simple… But let me share with you what it is, to live as we are:

    WE HAVE BEEN GIVEN NO CHOICE,

    But to FEAR the dark every night, for the rest of our lives…

    To have nightmares every time we sleep…

    We are unable to look at a single picture of Saskia!

    – without hearing her screams of horror, pain and terror.

    - without seeing all the stab wounds WILLIAM GARY SIMPSON INFLICTED UPON HER IN HIS ATTACK. Not just the 7 MASSIVE STAB WOUNDS – but the many slashes and cuts she had on her arms, hands and the bottoms of her feet – as she fought to defend herself from his 15 inch knife…

    I personally, have been unable to eat and keep down solid food. Because that morning, as we battled for our lives – there was so much BLOOD being sprayed from stab wounds that it filled my mouth… And now EVERYTHING TASTES LIKE BLOOD TO ME…

    We have lost friends, and FAMILY, who WANT US TO BE THE PEOPLE WE ONCE WERE – but Murder changes you. And you will never be THAT person EVER again…

    OUR OWN SON, who considered this man to be one of his best friends, for over 10 years of his life – HAS LEFT. HE CANNOT BEAR that his beloved sister Saskia, who was truly his BEST FRIEND, was MURDERED by someone HE INTRODUCED INTO OUR LIVES. He cannot look at his own Mother, Father and Sister now, because the GUILT OF ALL THIS WILL KILL HIM!

    As a mother, I can NEVER AGAIN COMFORT MY CHILDREN! We hold our children in our arms, and tell them there are no MONSTERS. What can you do for your child, who now knows – THERE ARE MONSTERS? AND MOMMY AND DADDY CANNOT KEEP YOU SAFE FROM THEM? He destroyed my ability to give comfort to my children, FOREVER!

    EACH AND EVERY ONE OF US live with the GUILT, FEAR, SHAME AND REGRET for what WILLIAM GARY SIMPSON DID TO SASKIA – each and every day, for the rest of our lives!

    AND THE FEAR, that this attack has left us all with, CONTINUES FOR US…

    We want to be SET FREE – FROM THE GRIP SIMPSON HAS OVER US…
    And we can NEVER DO THAT -

    if we must spend the REST OF OUR LIVES within the JUSTICE SYSTEM -
    FIGHTING TO KEEP WILLIAM GARY SIMPSON BEHIND BARS!

    We desire to be SET FREE – FROM THE GRIP HE HAS TAKEN OVER OUR LIVES!

    FOR HE HAS TAKEN EVERYTHING ELSE
    FROM ALL OF US -

    And we deserve a future – FREE FROM HIM!

    It breaks my heart, and leaves me disappointed in my fellow human beings – who would CHOOSE TO TAKE AWAY THE CONSEQUENCES for DESTROYING SO MANY LIVES…

    Because William Gary Simpson PLANNED his attack upon us
    FOR ALMOST 1 YEAR BEFORE he came to MURDER
    ALL OF US…

    He took classes at college – self-defense and sword fighting. He PRACTICED!

    He was not on drugs, nor crazy. THERE IS SIMPLY NO ONE
    on this earth who – MORE THAN ME – wishes that was the TRUTH!

    HE COVETED THE LOVE WE HAD…
    He has always been selfish, arrogant and had quite the superiority complex… It was his sense of feeling SO SUPERIOR TO OTHERS that made him think he would get away with it!

    AND THAT’S NOT CRAZY – IT’S JUST SELFISH!

    And when he failed? He had a plan, for that too! Not as well thought out, or practiced as the rest – because he never expected to fail! But a plan nonetheless…

    And he came to murder us, simply because we were such
    A LOVING FAMILY! A HAPPY FAMILY!

    He could not stand for us to have EITHER of THOSE THINGS, because in his own miserable life he did not have them…
    Because he CHOSE to not go out and look for them…

    He CHOSE INSTEAD TO TAKE THEM FROM US – FOREVER!

    So, let him discover, finally –
    THAT THERE ARE CONSEQUENCES FOR HIS ACTIONS!

    After all, HE MADE HIS OWN CHOICE… AND PLANNED IT OUT… TO COME AND KILL ALL OF US!

    And I speak MORALLY, FROM THE HEART -
    that if he were MY OWN CHILD,
    I WOULD STILL INSIST HE TAKE RESPONSIBILITY -
    FOR WHAT HE CHOSE TO DO!

    I am Catherine Burke –
    Mother of a Murdered Child – AND – Victim of Violent Crime!

    “Indeed, the decision that capital punishment may be the appropriate sanction in extreme cases is an expression of the community’s belief that certain crimes are themselves so grievous an affront to humanity that the only adequate response may be the penalty of death.”

    PROTECTION is the reason why we must Vote NO on Proposition 34!

    For you can take at face value, the propaganda set forth by the people who want to get rid of the Death Penalty…

    Meanwhile, I am TALKING with PARENTS OF MURDERED CHILDREN, and VICTIMS OF VIOLENT CRIME -

    Now that I AM BOTH…

    Just like ALL the laws we currently have, THEY SAY ONE THING – but from within the broken system, OTHER THINGS ARE HAPPENING. You can quote numbers, statistics, and even the law verbatim… BUT THE TRUTH speaks for itself!

    AS the law stands NOW – Some of these murderer’s who were ORIGINALLY SENTENCED to Life Without the Possibility of Parole, are being granted parole hearings as those verdicts are being’overturned’.

    And the TRUTH of what happens for these VICTIMS, TOO MANY TIMES – is that their MURDERER who was ORIGINALLY SENTENCED to Life Without the Possibility of Parole 20+ years ago

    IS RIGHT NOW getting parole hearings THAT THEY MUST ATTEND TO ENSURE THE MURDERER STAYS BEHIND BARS…

    And the WORST thing I hear from Parents or Victims who thought their MURDERER was locked up FOREVER -

    IS THE MURDERER HAS BEEN SET FREE!

    And when MURDERERS who have been SENTENCED TO LIFE IN PRISON, WITHOUT THE POSSIBILITY OF PAROLE are in FACT being SET FREE…

    Then we citizens can only look at these FACTS, and look to protect ourselves! For if even ONE LIFE IS TAKEN by a MURDERER PREVIOUSLY SENTENCED AND RELEASED – it is ONE LIFE TOO MANY!

    The SYSTEM IS BROKEN. As fellow human beings, we should all be working together to fix it!

    Because the bottom line we SHOULD ALL BE LOOKING AT -

    IS KEEPING EACH OTHER SAFE!

    If you could GUARANTEE ME that EACH AND EVERY MURDERER would remain behind bars for the REST OF THEIR LIVES if only given LIFE IN PRISON, I would concede…

    But NO SUCH PROMISE CAN EVER BE MADE!

    So – you can choose to trust in that Propaganda… But I’ll continue to fight to keep MURDERERS OFF THE STREETS, keep the citizens SAFE, and PROTECT THE CHILDREN from these MONSTERS!

    Because unlike you, I survived an attack from a mass murderer… My daughter Saskia was brutally, viciously, violently stabbed to death here in my home! I live each day inside a horror now, that is

    TOO UNIMAGINABLE TO BEAR…

    And while you can complain about ‘money’ or ‘political views’ – I am trying to PROTECT EVERYONE ELSE, from living inside this HORROR

    THIS PENALTY OF DEATH –

    I HAVE BEEN SENTENCED TO LIVE WITHIN!

    “Prop 34 has nothing to do with economics – and everything to do with justice,” said former Governor Gray Davis. “When it comes to keeping California safe, voters should ask themselves…”

    WHAT do they trust?