San Diego Criminal Lawyers Blog
While the death penalty has not been used since 2006 in the state of California, it does not mean that, under certain circumstances, the sentence is not available to judges and juries. The facts surrounding state-sponsored execution include a number of realities of which many people may not be aware—despite the fact that the majority of the public favors capital punishment.
Death Row in California
For more than 700 inmates in the state of California, the death penalty hangs over their lives as a constant possibility. In recent decades the number of these prisoners has increased by 28%, indicating that it is still a preferred option for juries, despite the fact that executions have been held up in the current political and legal climate. Interestingly, more inmates on death row die of natural causes or from suicide than by execution in California, with only 15 of 135 death row deaths occurring as a result of execution since 1978.