[GPSCC-chat] Fwd: [gpca-forum] Who in the party has worked most on anti-death penalty and on amend three strikes?

Tue Oct 9 18:07:21 PDT 2012

I'm confused. Who wrote this?
Caroline

--- On Mon, 10/8/12, Spencer Graves <spencer.graves at prodsyse.com> wrote:

From: Spencer Graves <spencer.graves at prodsyse.com>
Subject: Re: [GPSCC-chat] Fwd: [gpca-forum] Who in the party has worked most on anti-death penalty and on amend three strikes?
To: "Valerie D. Face" <vdf at juno.com>
Cc: sosfbay-discuss at cagreens.org
Date: Monday, October 8, 2012, 7:44 PM

Hi, All:

On 10/8/2012 6:23 PM, Valerie D. Face wrote:
> Hi folks,
> 
> I have been somewhat involved, but really only sporadically over the last few years (depending on job commitments, other issues I'm working on and such).  I wouldn't be surprised if there are other Greens in the state who have been more involved, and for more years.

      I reviewed the literature on this in the 1970s.  I have not followed the more recent developments in detail, but I think the following is clear:

            (1) Some studies have found a modest deterrent effect from capital punishment.  Others have found no statistically significant effect.  I'd be surprised if there were any serious studies that found a large deterrent effect for capital punishment.

            (2) There are reasonable numbers of former death row inmates walking free today, because subsequent investigative journalists found someone else who admitted to the crime.  Other former death row inmates are free today, because other (e.g., DNA) evidence came to light to establish they were wrongly convicted. The record of these and other cases make it fairly clear that many convictions (including in capital cases) have been obtained on the basis of coerced perjury and falsified evidence.

            (3) The US today has the largest prison population per capital in the world.  The primary contributor to the increase in the punitive nature of US law has been changes in the structure of the mainstream commercial media:  The increased concentration of ownership of the media has meant that commercial media compete less on content -- especially news content.  This has enable a drastic reduction in money spent on investigative journalism.  The space has been filled by increased reliance on the "police blotter". Reporting on elite crimes is generally a losing proposition, because the commercial media company could easily lose advertising that would not likely be recouped by increase in the size of the audience -- and they could be sued for libel.  However, if the alleged perpetrator is poor, the media can disseminate whatever they want, because they won't lose any advertising, and the alleged perpetrator will not likely sue for
 libel.  Also, the best data on crime in the US is the National Victimization Survey:  This is a random sample survey asking people about whether they have been a victim of crime.  Changes in law and incarceration rates are not correlated with actual victimization rates but are correlated with changes in the structure of the ownership of the media and with the accompanying editorial policy.  (Potter and Kappeler 1998 Constructing Crime:  Perspectives on Making News and Social Problems, Waveland Pr.).  It's also known that states and nations with high rates of abortion have falling crime rates 15 - 20 years later:  States with very restrictive abortion laws have higher crime rates 15 - 20 years later because the immature girls who might otherwise abort don't do a very good job of parenting (Levitt and Dubner 2005 Freakonomics, Harper Torch, pp. 141-142).

            (4) The primary use of capital punishment from the dawn of human history to the present day has been political.  Jesus of Nazareth was tried, convicted and lawfully executed.  In his day, the established government had reason to be concerned about potential attacks on authority.  A group know as the Zealots were actively assassinating governmental officials (Wikipedia, "Zealotry").  Capital punishment has no more justification today than it did 2,000 years ago.

BOTTOM LINE:  Changes in public opinion and law on many issues including crime are driven first and foremost by changes in the editorial policies of the media.  Changes in incarcerations and capital punishment are not correlated with actual crime rates.

      Spencer

p.s. If you like this, I can polish it a bit more, update my literature search, etc.  See the Wikipedia article on "Capital Punishment".
> 
> Best wishes,
> Valerie
> 
> 
> ~*~*~*~
> Jill Stein for President -- A Green New Deal for America
>       Campaign website:  http://www.jillstein.org/
> Don't waste your vote:  http://www.jillstein.org/only_wasted_vote
>            First TV ad:  http://youtu.be/vaObRxkX8K4
> 
> 
> ---------- Original Message ----------
> From: fred Duperrault <fredlois2 at gmail.com>
> To: Gerry Gras <gerrygras at earthlink.net>
> Date: Sat, 6 Oct 2012 18:08:29 -0700
> Cc: GPSCC <sosfbay-discuss at cagreens.org>
> Subject: Re: [GPSCC-chat] Fwd: [gpca-forum] Who in the party has worked most
>     on anti-death penalty and on amend three strikes?
> 
> I think Valerie Face has focused on the "death penalty" issue more
> than anyone.
> 
> Fred D.
> 
> On Oct 6, 2012, at 3:30 PM, Gerry Gras wrote:
> 
>> 
>> -------- Original Message --------
>> Subject: [gpca-forum] Who in the party has worked most on anti-death
>> penalty and on amend three strikes?
>> Date: Sat, 06 Oct 2012 12:46:38 -0700
>> From: Mike Feinstein <mfeinstein at feinstein.org>
>> To: GPCA Forum <gpca-forum at cagreens.org>
>> 
>> The state party is putting together press releases on Props 34 and 36
>> and would like to quote people who have been active on these issues
>> within our party for a long time
>> 
>> Prop 34 - end death penalty
>> http://www.cagreens.org/elections/propositions/34
>> 
>> Prop 36 - amend three strikes
>> http://www.cagreens.org/elections/propositions/36
>> _______________________________________________
>> gpca-forum mailing list
>> gpca-forum at cagreens.org
>> http://lists.cagreens.org/mailman/listinfo/gpca-forum
>> 
>> 

-- Spencer Graves, PE, PhD
President and Chief Technology Officer
Structure Inspection and Monitoring, Inc.
751 Emerson Ct.
San José, CA 95126
ph:  408-655-4567
web:  www.structuremonitoring.com

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