Why one newspaper changed its death penalty position

The Sacramento Bee has supported the death penalty since the paper's founding more than 150 years ago. But last month it reversed that position.

Californians will vote in November on whether to replace the death penalty with life imprisonment without parole. In researching Proposition 34, The Bee's editorial board decided the state's death penalty system was irreparably broken. The paper ran a weeklong series examining the unequal application of capital punishment, the lack of evidence that it has a deterrent effect, Texas's record in carrying out the death penalty and why a switch to life without parole would be a better approach. The series, at www.sacbee.com/deathpenalty, elicited a large reader response.

North Carolina has had a de facto moratorium on the death penalty for several years now, but it is still on the books.

The Observer's editorial board has long opposed the death penalty. We believe it is more expensive even than life without parole. More importantly, we believe it is morally wrong for the government to kill people, the application of the death penalty is unfair and inconsistent, and the horror of the possibility of executing an innocent person outweighs any benefit.

-- Taylor Batten

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