Thread by @JohnFPfaff

CA death row moratorium is going to get 20,000 more column inches of attention than Realignment.

Realignment was a fundament change in how we balance criminal justice powers, led to the largest one-year decline in prison pops anywhere, and could be adopted widely.

ALSO:

Prior to Realignment, CA's conditions of ("normal") confinement were KILLING 60 PPL PER YEAR.

The state admitted in Plata that inadequate medical care due to overcrowding led to ~60 preventable deaths per year.

Realignment IS A CAPITAL ISSUE. But abt our "hidden" death penalty.

We execute far FAR more ppl every year thru unsafe conditions, shoddy medical care, inadequate drug treatment, etc., etc., etc. Even if we don't kill the person in prison, prison exposure shortens life expectancy.

So the total person-years destroyed by prison DWARFS death row.

I'm no fan of the DP, and the moratorium is surely a good call.

But we also misinvest SO much lobbying effort focusing on the salient but few executions.

Ex: How much more human misery would be prevented if 1000s of more pro bono hours ended up in misdemeanor court instead?

Instead of spending years getting one case rectified, what if those lawyers spent the same time keeping thousand of people off Rikers?

I get the political significance of an intentional killing, vs malicious indifference, but the line is... increasingly blurry here.