Opinion ID: 1260876
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: Capital Punishment is an Unusual Punishment

Text: (17) We have already noted that the death sentence is rarely imposed in California today and that it is even more rarely carried out. But even adopting the broader test of widespread acceptance among civilized peoples, capital punishment can no longer withstand constitutional proscription. Respondent seeks to avoid this conclusion by suggesting that a punishment is not unusual in the constitutional sense unless it is unusual as to form, or method by which it is imposed. We cannot accept this limitation of the meaning of unusual, however, for to do so would ignore the fact that execution is a form or method of punishment and would embroil us in future semantic disputes as to whether innovative types of punishment were unconstitutionally unusual forms of punishment. In construing article I, section 6, we have held than an excessive or disproportionate punishment is unusual. ( People v. Oppenheimer, supra, 156 Cal. 733, 737-738.) When a punishment has been challenged as being unconstitutionally cruel, however, the fact that it was not literally unusual has been considered relevant, not to whether the punishment should be proscribed as excessive, but as to whether it was offensive to the standards of decency common to civilized peoples. ( In re Finley, supra, 1 Cal. App. 198, 202.) Thus, when doubt existed as to whether a punishment was so cruel as to contravene article I, section 6, that doubt could be resolved in favor of upholding the punishment if it was commonly accepted among civilized societies not limited to our own. We have concluded that capital punishment is unconstitutionally cruel and that under article I, section 6, a cruel punishment is proscribed irrespective of whether it is excessive. If any doubt remained as to its cruelty, however, we could no longer uphold capital punishment on the ground that it is commonly accepted, for the repudiation of the death penalty in this country is reflected in a world-wide trend towards abolition. Not only have nine states, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands totally abolished capital punishment, but New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Rhode Island and Vermont have limited its application to exceptional circumstances. Among those American jurisdictions which permit it at all, 14 have not conducted an execution since 1960, 19 have had none since 1961, 24 have had none since 1962, 30 have had none since 1963, and 35 have had none since 1964. In 1967 California and Colorado each executed one person. Prior to 1967 California had not had an execution since 1963 when one person was executed. [43] The increasingly unusual nature of capital punishment in the United States is readily apparent in the following chart: Total Number of Executions in the United States 1930  155 1963  21 1935  199 1964  15 1940  124 1965  7 1945  117 1966  1 1950  82 1967  2 1955  76 1968  0 1960  56 1969  0 1961  42 1970  0 1962  47 1971  0 The observation of the National Crime Commission that the infrequency of its application is the most salient characteristic of capital punishment in the United States is echoed in the report of the Secretary General of the United Nations on the world-wide status of capital punishment. There is still a clear trend toward total abolition. Most countries are gradually restricting the number of offenses for which the death penalty can be applied and a few have totally abolished capital offenses even in wartime. Those countries retaining the death penalty report that in practice it is only exceptionally applied and frequently the persons condemned are later pardoned by executive authority.... (United Nations, Economic and Social Council. Note by the Secretary General, Capital Punishment (E/4947) (February 23, 1971) p. 3.) Defendant has prepared the following table demonstrating the extent of de jure and de facto abolition of capital punishment in foreign jurisdictions: [44] Worldwide Abolition Argentina ................... 1922 Costa Rica ................... 1880 Australia (Federal) ......... 1945 Denmark ...................... 1930 New South Wales ........... 1955 Dominican Republic ........... 1924 Queensland ................ 1922 Ecuador ...................... 1897 Tasmania .................. 1968 Finland ...................... 1949 Austria ..................... 1968 Germany, West ................ 1949 Belgium ..................... 1863 Greenland .................... 1954 Bolivia ..................... 1961 Honduras ..................... 1957 Brazil ...................... 1946 Iceland ...................... 1940 Canada ...................... 1967 India Colombia .................... 1910 Travancore ................. 1944 Israel ...................... 1954 Norway ....................... 1905 Italy ....................... 1944 Panama ....................... 1915 Liechtenstein ............... 1798 Portugal ..................... 1867 Luxembourg .................. 1821 San Marino ................... 1848 Mexico (Federal) ............ 1931 Surinam ...................... 1927 29 of 32 states ...... 1931-1970 Sweden ....................... 1921 Monaco ...................... 1962 Switzerland .................. 1942 Mozambique .................. 1867 United Kingdom Nepal ....................... 1950 Great Britain .............. 1965 Netherlands ................. 1886 Northern Ireland ........... 1966 Antilles .................. 1957 Uruguay ...................... 1907 New Zealand ................. 1961 Vatican City State ........... 1969 Nicaragua ................... 1892 Venezuela .................... 1863 No longer can it be said that capital punishment is not cruel per se, for the whole current of law for centuries justifies its infliction. ( In re Finley, supra, 1 Cal. App. 198, 202.) Although world-wide acceptance of capital punishment at the turn of the century may then have warranted resolving doubts as to its cruelty in favor of its constitutionality, the current has now reversed. It is now, literally, an unusual punishment among civilized nations.