End the rip-off. Take action to end the death penalty in California.

Few could deny that California’s death penalty is a giant rip-off. Not with a straight face anyway.

Especially since this summer’s bombshell report showing that taxpayers have spent more than $4 billion on the death penalty since it was reinstated in 1978. That enormous sum has bought them a grand total of 13 executions – $308 million each.

Can California really afford it? If you think the answer is no, and you live in California, email your lawmakers and tell them it's time to end California's death penalty:

http://ejusa.org/act/repealCAdeathpenalty

Conservative columnist George Skelton - a former death penalty supporter - recently called California's death penalty “a colossal waste of money for arguably the state's most inefficient program.”

Donald A. McCartin, once known as “the hanging judge of Orange County” recently said, “It makes me angry to have been made a player in a system so inefficient, so ineffective, so expensive and so emotionally costly.”

When even the biggest death penalty supporters are turning away from it, you know the system doesn't have long. Californians - help usher it out the door by contacting your lawmakers today:

http://ejusa.org/act/repealCAdeathpenalty

Four billion is what California has paid for the death penalty. But even that figure doesn't tell us what the system has truly cost us. While resources are being hemorrhaged on the death penalty, almost half of all homicides in California go unsolved. This is unspeakable.

A system of life without the possibility of parole is severe punishment that would save California $184 million every year. It would keep dangerous criminals behind bars for the rest of their lives, prevent decades of uncertainty for victims’ families, and eliminate the terrible risk of executing an innocent person.

And with the money we save, we can support criminal justice policies that actually work, like increasing law enforcement and funding effective programs that make a positive difference for all.

Now is the time to talk to your lawmakers – while all eyes are looking at the system. Tell your leaders that the death penalty is broken beyond repair and California must prioritize safety for all, not symbolism for a few. It takes just a second:

http://ejusa.org/act/repealCAdeathpenalty