The death penalty doesn't pay

IF THE SCHEDULED execution of Clarence Ray Allen goes forward on Jan. 16 -- the day after his 76th birthday -- he will be the oldest person executed in California since the death penalty was reinstated. But he will not be the first elderly, seriously ill inmate executed, nor will he be the last. Similarly, although his case received extraordinary media coverage, Stanley Tookie Williams was neither the first nor the last prisoner put to death who many believe had profoundly changed while in prison.

What is extraordinary, however, about these two executions is that they will have occurred a month apart. That is unprecedented in a state that, until December, had carried out only 11 executions since 1977 -- on average, less than one every two years. And the executions are not about to stop. According to the state attorney general's office, three other men are likely to face execution in 2006 and, within several years, the number of executions may be "considerable."

Ironically, California is speeding up the pace of executions just as public support for the death penalty is waning. Nationwide, the rate of executions continues to decrease. In California, fewer prosecutors have sought the death penalty since 2001, and fewer juries have been willing to deliver death verdicts. Were their cases in the trial courts today, it seems likely that a significant number of the 646 individuals now on our state's death row would not be selected for capital prosecution in the first place or would be allowed to negotiate a plea for a sentence of life without possibility of parole or, if tried, would not receive a death verdict.

There are 3,327 men and women in California serving sentences of life without possibility of parole. These are individuals who for reasons of geography, race, economic status, prosecutorial discretion, trial verdict, good lawyering or even good timing -- to name just a few -- were found guilty of death-eligible crimes but were not ultimately sentenced to death.

Just like those on death row, some were convicted of multiple murders, and some had prior records, including crimes of violence. Just like those on death row, most had never taken a life before, and many did not have a serious criminal history. And, just like those awaiting execution, some of the families of their victims wanted them to pay with their lives, and others did not.