Opinion ID: 1260876
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: The Unnecessary Cruelty of Capital Punishment

Text: (13) The People concede that capital punishment is cruel to the individual involved. They argue, however, that only unnecessary cruelty is constitutionally proscribed, and that if a cruel punishment can be justified it is not forbidden by article I, section 6, of the California Constitution. We need not decide here whether our Constitution permits the infliction of necessary cruelty as punishment for crime, because respondent has not demonstrated that the death penalty can be justified as necessary to any state interest. In seeking to justify continuance of capital punishment, the People argue that it furthers three of the four acknowledged purposes of punishment. Respondent concedes that death is in no way rehabilitative, but contends that capital punishment may be legitimately imposed in retribution for serious offenses, that it serves to isolate the offender, and that the existence of the death penalty acts as a deterrent to crime. None of these purposes is shown to justify so onerous a penalty as death. (14) Although vengence or retribution has been acknowledged as a permissible purpose of punishment under the Eighth Amendment ( Williams v. New York (1949) 337 U.S. 241, 248 [93 L.Ed. 1337, 1343, 69 S.Ct. 1079]), we do not sanction punishment solely for retribution in California. ( In re Estrada (1965) 63 Cal.2d 740, 745 [48 Cal. Rptr. 172, 408 P.2d 948].) We are fully aware that many condemned prisoners have committed crimes of the utmost cruelty and depravity and that such persons are not entitled to the slightest sympathy from society in the administration of justice or otherwise. Nevertheless, it is incompatible with the dignity of an enlightened society to attempt to justify the taking of life for purposes of vengeance. (15) Admittedly, isolation of the offender from society is a proper and often necessary goal of punishment and death does effectively serve that purpose. Society can be protected from convicted criminals, however, by far less onerous means than execution. In no sense can capital punishment be justified as necessary to isolate the offender from society. (16) Respondent contends that the existence of the death penalty may deter some persons from committing capital offenses. We have recognized that whether a substantial deterrent effect can be proven is a vigorously disputed proposition. ( People v. Love (1961) 56 Cal.2d 720, 731 [16 Cal. Rptr. 777, 17 Cal. Rptr. 481, 366 P.2d 33, 809]; People v. Ketchel (1963) 59 Cal.2d 503, 538-539 [30 Cal. Rptr. 538, 381 P.2d 394].) [39] We are aware of the obvious imponderable and variable characteristics of society which can cause statistical studies of deterrence to be misleading, and of the difficulties inherent in attempting to establish that an offense was not committed because a would-be offender was aware of and restrained by the possibility of the death penalty. Nonetheless, as respondent concedes, many homicides in particular are not deterrable and as to the remainder capital punishment can have a significant deterrent effect only if the punishment is swiftly and certainly exacted. We have already demonstrated that the punishment is not swift. Moreover, it is far from certain. In California death is authorized as the penalty for eight offenses: treason (Pen. Code, § 37), perjury in capital cases (Pen. Code, § 128), first degree murder (Pen. Code, § 190), kidnaping for ransom or robbery with bodily harm to the victim (Pen. Code, § 209), train wrecking (Pen. Code, § 219), malicious assault by life prisoner (Pen. Code, § 4500), explosion of destructive devices causing great bodily injury (Pen. Code, § 12310), and sabotage resulting in death or great bodily injury (Mil. & Vet. Code, § 1672, subd. (a)). The penalty is mandatory for the treason and perjury offenses and for malicious assault by a life prisoner if a non-inmate victim dies. It is discretionary for the other listed offenses. Notwithstanding the discretion given to judges and juries to impose either death or life imprisonment for first degree murder, [40] it is estimated that in California 80 percent of those persons convicted receive a sentence of life imprisonment. [41] Of the 20 percent upon whom a sentence of death is imposed, commutation of sentence, reversal of the judgment, and other factors [42] further reduce the number of defendants actually executed to the point where, far from being a certain penalty with acknowledged deterrent effect, capital punishment today is rarely imposed or implemented. A punishment as extreme and as irrevocable as death cannot be predicated upon speculation as to what the deterrent effect might be if it were actually applied swiftly and with certainty upon all who were potentially subject to it. As stated previously, in reality today it is neither swift nor certain. Respondent offers us no basis upon which to conclude that, as presently administered, capital punishment is any greater deterrent to crime than are other available forms of punishment.