Text by GABRIEL SÁNCHEZ and FRANCES ZHUANG
Death, Guns and Weed
IMPORTANT PROPOSITIONS OF THIS ELECTION
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NE OFTEN OVERLOOKED feature of the transition into fall is that Americans receive their annual opportunity to influence state policy by voting on propositions. This November, Californians will have to sift through an unusually long list of propositions due to a record low voter turnout in the 2012 election, which paved a much easier path to the ballot for the prospective laws. However, when faced with a potentially staggering 18 propositions, which may be overwhelming to first-time voters, people ought to resist the urge to
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throw up their hands and declare the effort futile. This year’s list, which covers a broad range of issues, ranging from plastic bag usage to healthcare reform, includes a few key propositions that hold the potential to revolutionize our criminal justice system. Californians certainly ought to take advantage of their chance to weigh in on some of our nation’s most controversial issues, including the death penalty, gun control, and the legalization of recreational marijuana, which are addressed by propositions 62 and 66, 63 and 64, respectively.
Art by Vivian Nguyen
OCTOBER 2016
The death penalty (Prop 62 and 66): Proposition 62 would repeal the death penalty and make the most drastic punishment for convicted felons life in prison without the chance for parole. This would apply retroactively, changing the punishment for those already on death row. Another proposition, Proposition 66, directly contrasts and is mutually exclusive with Proposition 62. By putting the state Supreme Court in charge of the initial petitioning process this initiative would keep the death penalty in place while aiming to streamline the petitioning process for those appealing for lesser sentences. If both propositions are approved, whichever one receives the most affirmative votes will become law. “There are multiple reasons why it would be good to replace the death penalty [with life in prison without the chance for parole],” Nick McKeown, death penalty activist and professor of electrical engineering at Stanford University, says. “We’re obviously not putting people on death row on the streets, as they’ve all been found guilty of very severe crimes.” Whether one is driven by morals or pragmatics, McKeown argues, passing Proposition 62 is aligned with the people’s interests. “The biggest indicator of whether you’ll go to prison or not is if you’re poor, black and male,” McKeown says. “Poverty has a very high correlation with imprisonment.” The consequences of such correlations, which can be dire for minority populations, are literally life or death in this case. “It’s obvious ... that there are many many unresolved biases," McKeown says. "The criminal justice system and capital punishment is just one very stark manifestation of that. It’s where there can be an appearance of a process which emboldens people who have those intolerances to use … and almost hide behind that process.” Some argue that while a correlation may exist between socioeconomic status