Murder: Special Circumstances. Legislative Initiative Amendment.
	Rebuttal to Argument Against Proposition 18

Arguments on this page are the opinions of the authors and have not been checked for accuracy by any official agency.

Opposition arguments center almost entirely on philosophical objections to the death penalty but miss the point of this measure, which was approved for the ballot (since it amends an initiative) by huge nonpartisan votes in the Legislature (Senate 28-6, Assembly 66-2) to correct bizarre Rose Bird court decisions.

Reasons for Proposition 18

Under Rose Bird court decisions:

Criminals who kidnap someone to rob them, then kill them as an afterthought or who set fire to a building to destroy property are subject to the death penalty or life imprisonment without parole, at a jury's discretion;

Criminals who, however, kidnap someone to murder them or set fire to a building to murder the occupants and do kill them are not subject to a death sentence or life imprisonment without parole. This simply isn't right.

Nonpartisan Support

Crime victims and law enforcement strongly support Proposition 18. Introduced for the ballot by former Independent State Senator Quentin Kopp, it has been publicly endorsed and/or voted for by Crime Victims United of California, Democratic Governor Gray Davis, Attorney General Bill Lockyer, former Republican Governors George Deukmejian and Pete Wilson, Democratic Lt. Governor Cruz Bustamante, Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa and Republican Senator Richard Rainey, among others.

Opposition arguments almost seem to trivialize murder cases. Their statements ring hollow with actual family and friends of murder victims. For example, training school personnel in "conflict resolution," while commendable, doesn't cure injustices in current murder law. Proposition 18 does. Please vote "yes".

Honorable George Deukmejian
Former Governor of the State of California

Honorable Michael D. Bradbury
District Attorney of Ventura County

Mrs. Harriet Salarno
Chair, Crime Victims United of California

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