Proposition 62 was a

California ballot proposition In California, a ballot proposition is a referendum or an initiative measure that is submitted to the electorate for a direct decision or direct vote (or plebiscite). If passed, it can alter one or more of the articles of the Constitution of Cal ...

on the November 8, 2016, ballot that would have repealed the death penalty and replaced it with life imprisonment and

forced labor Forced labour, or unfree labour, is any work relation, especially in modern or early modern history, in which people are employed against their will with the threat of destitution, detention, violence including death, or other forms of ex ...

without possibility of

parole Parole (also known as provisional release or supervised release) is a form of early release of a prison inmate where the prisoner agrees to abide by certain behavioral conditions, including checking-in with their designated parole officers, or ...

. It would have applied retroactively to existing death sentences and increased the portion of life inmates' wages that may be applied to victim

restitution The law of restitution is the law of gains-based recovery, in which a court orders the defendant to ''give up'' their gains to the claimant. It should be contrasted with the law of compensation, the law of loss-based recovery, in which a court ...

. A September 2016 poll from USC Dornsife /

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...

showed 51% percent of registered voters in favor of Proposition 62, 40% opposed, and 9% unknown. Proposition 62 was rejected by voters in the November general election, with 46.9% voting to end executions. Proposition 66 was approved by voters in the same election, with 51.1% voting to speed up executions. If voters had passed both Proposition 62 and Proposition 66, then the measure with the most "Yes" votes would have taken effect. Proposition 62 was estimated to have reduced state spending by $150 million a year. Proponents spent $8.9 million fighting for Proposition 62, with the top contribution being $1.5 million from Stanford University professor

Nick McKeown Nicholas (Nick) William McKeown FREng, is the SVP/GM of the Network and Edge Group at Intel and a professor in the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science departments at Stanford University. He has also started technology companies in Silicon ...

. Other top contributing proponents include

Tom Steyer Thomas Fahr Steyer (born June 27, 1957) is an American climate investor, businessman, hedge fund manager, philanthropist, environmentalist, and liberal activist. Steyer is the co-founder and co-chair of Galvanize Climate Solutions, founder and ...

Reed Hastings Wilmot Reed Hastings Jr. (born October 8, 1960) is an American billionaire businessman. He is the co-founder, chairman, and co-chief executive officer (CEO) of Netflix, and sits on a number of boards and non-profit organizations. A former member ...

John Doerr L. John Doerr (born June 29, 1951) is an American investor and venture capitalist at Kleiner Perkins in Menlo Park, California. In February 2009, Doerr was appointed a member of the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board to provide the Pre ...

, and Paul Graham. The measure was supported by the editorial boards of the ''

'', the ''

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and Michael H. de Young. The ...

'', and '' The Sacramento Bee''. Opponents spent $4.4 million fighting against Proposition 62, with the top contribution being $498,303 from the California prison guards’ union. Other top contributing opponents include the

California Highway Patrol The California Highway Patrol (CHP) is a state law enforcement agency of the U.S. state of California. The CHP has primary patrol jurisdiction over all California highways and roads and streets outside city limits, and can exercise law enforcem ...

men’s union, and the LAPD police union.

History

After the Supreme Court of California abolished the death penalty in ''

People v. Anderson ''The People of the State of California v. Robert Page Anderson'', 493 P.2d 880, 6 Cal. 3d 628 ( Cal. 1972), was a landmark case in the state of California that outlawed capital punishment for nine months until the enactment of a constitutional ...

'' (1972), California voters restored

capital punishment in California In the U.S. state of California, capital punishment is a legal penalty. However it is not allowed to be carried out because executions were halted by an official moratorium ordered by Governor Gavin Newsom. Prior to the moratorium, executions ...

with

California Proposition 17 (1972) Proposition 17 of 1972 was a measure enacted by California voters to reintroduce the capital punishment, death penalty in that state. The California Supreme Court had ruled on February 17, 1972, that capital punishment was contrary to the state c ...

. However, since 1978, California has executed only 13 prisoners, while the population on death row has increased to 750. No prisoner has been executed since 2006, when a federal judge put a hold on the lethal injection procedure the state was using. Abolition of the death penalty through California Proposition 34, 2012 was rejected by 52% of voters. The path to the ballot started when

Mike Farrell Michael Joseph Farrell Jr. (born February 6, 1939) is an American actor, best known for his role as Captain B.J. Hunnicutt on the television series ''M*A*S*H'' (1975–83). Farrell was a producer of ''Patch Adams'' (1998) starring Robin Willi ...

, an American actor and activist, wrote a

title A title is one or more words used before or after a person's name, in certain contexts. It may signify either generation, an official position, or a professional or academic qualification. In some languages, titles may be inserted between the f ...

and ballot summary on September 15, 2015. A title and summary was then issued by

California attorney general The attorney general of California is the state attorney general of the Government of California. The officer's duty is to ensure that "the laws of the state are uniformly and adequately enforced" (Constitution of California, Article V, Section ...

's office on November 19, 2015. For a ballot to be qualified, 365,880 valid signatures are needed. On May 2, 2016, petitioners submitted the signatures to county officials. The deadline to submit the required signatures was May 17, 2016. Sponsors of the measure hired PCI Consultants, Inc. to collect signatures for the petition to qualify this measure for the ballot. A total of $3,192,775.30 was spent to collect the 365,880 valid signatures required to put this measure before voters, resulting in a total cost per required signature (CPRS) of $8.73.

References

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External links

Yes on 62
2016 California ballot propositions Capital punishment in California Criminal penalty ballot measures in the United States