California Supreme Court Declares Capital Punishment Unconstitutional

    FOR IMMEDIATE y 

FEBRUARY 18, 1972 

Jack Greenberg of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund hailed the 

6-1 decision of the California Supreme Court today declaring 

capital punishment unconstitutional as cruel and unusual punish- 

ment. The effect of the decision in the case of Robert Pz 

Anderson, brought by the Legal Defense Fund, is to reduce to life 

imprisonment the death sentences of the 101 men and 5 women on 

California's death row. Jack Himmelstein, Director of the ‘Legal 

Defense Fund's Capital Punishment Project, heralded the decision 

as “a great civilizing step for the State of California and the 

nation towards fairness in the criminal justice system." 

Under the direction of Anthony G. Amsterdam, Professor of 

‘Law at Stanford University, the Legal Defense Fund, after conduct- 

ing studies revealing the discriminatory impact of the death 

penalty, has for five years led a national effort that has stopped 

se executions in the country and has sought to secure a judicial 

ruling of the unconstitutionality of the death penalty. There 

have been no executions in the United States since June 2, 1967, 

when Luis Monge was executed in Colorado. After the California 

ruling, 578 persons remain under death sentence, 306 black. The 

Fund now plans to use the California decision in attempting to 

secure similar judicial rulings for the 250 other condemned men it 

represents. 

The decision comes one month after the decision of the Ne 

Jersey Supreme Court declaring that state's death penalty 

unconstitutional on narrower constitutional grounds, in a case also 

brought by the Legal Defense Fund. 

+ 10019) 3621 



Douglas B. Lyons, Executive Director 

18, .1972 

YEAR OF LAST TOTAL EXEC 
EXECUTION 1930-197 

YEAR OF 
ABOLITION 

27 21 is) 1 - Robbery. 1965 135 
XXX ---- 1957 XXX 20 20 1963 38 1 L G 1964 118 Cc IIA ) 1967 292 cl 2 2 | 1967 47 C TICur 3 3 1960 21 DE 3 3 | 1946 12 D con. 2 2 1957 40 Pr 91 67+ 24 1964 170 tc 39 25 ey 2 - Armed Robbery. 1964 366 

I I xxx ---- 1957 xe 
ie} 2957 3 

28 28 1962 90 
8 8 1961 41 

xxx i 1962 1965 18 
2 Z 1965 LS 

20 1962 103 
30 LE 1961 433 

f 1885 1887 XK 
17 5 1 .- Murder/Rape. 1961 68 
16 1947 27 

————— 1847 XXX 
- =e XXX 

8 1964 154 
17 1965 62 

1943 6 
2 £959 4 
8 1961 29 2 1939 

1963 74 
1960 1969 8 

3 1963 1965 329 9 2 1961 263 
1905 1915 XXX 

57 1963 Die 17 1966 60 
1962 1964 19 

24 1962 L52 
Soo too XXX NA 11 1 1962 162 
1947 1 

12 5 1960 $3 
39 9 2 - Armed Robbery 1964 297 5 1960 13 

1954 1965 4 7 2 1962 92 10 1963 47 
1959 1965 40 

car Les XAX 

1965 7 

FEDERAL (e} 1963 33 

TOTAL 6 3,859 

n on -duty prison guard, 
illing an on-duty and 

Death penalt retai i ted 
y indic piracy. 45 



Lis Lite 

for-Profit Corporation 

ALL CRI) 

NTENCE OF D. 

27 10 17 
20 13° 6 1 - Mex. 

1 d 
* CALIFORNIA 0 
COLORADO 2 iP sonk a 

| 
CONNECTICUT 3 1 sh 1. - PLR. 
DELAWARE 3 2 1 
DIST. OF COL. 2 1 1 
FLORIDA 91 29 62 
GEORGIA 39 8 28 3 

IDAHO ) 
ILLINOIS 28 15 13 
INDI 8 7 1 - PLR. 
KANSAS 2 2 
KENTUCKY 20 10 10 

41 =8 33 
23 4 19 

MASSACHUSETTS 16 £2 4 
MISSISSIPPI 8 : 5 3 
MISSOURI U7 6 5 2 

MONTANA (0) 
ASKA i Al 1 - Mex. 

A 8 Us 1 
HAMPSHIRE 2 2 
JERSEY 0 

NEW YORK 3 3 
NORTH CAROLINA lek 4 6 1 - Ind. 
OHIO Dd 28 29 

OKLAHOMA 17 8 7 1 - Mex. 1 
PENNSYLVANIA 24 10 14 

SOUTH CAROLINA 12 9 3 
SOUTH DAKOTA (e} 
TENNESSEE ay a oe Fa 
TEXAS 50 LS 16 7 - Mex. 12 
UTAH 5 ss) 

VIRGINIA 9 3 5 1 — Ind. 
WASHINGTON 10 @ 3 
WYOMING (0) 

(e} 

TOTAL 578 235 306 14 23 

TOTAL WHITE: 235 
TOTAL NON-WHITE: 320 
TOTAL OTHER: 2 Indian; 10 Mexican;2 Puerto Rican. 



Incorporated under tl 

P.0. Box 
24-N 

(212) 
ew York 

Douglas B. Lyons, Exeeutive Director 

URD: 
OF I 

or-Profit Corporation 

: 3 
MISSOURI Lu 6 9 2 

ie) 
2 1: 1 - Mex 
8 T d: 
2 2 
ie) 

NEW YORK f) 3 
NORTH CAROLINA S 4 5 

57 28 29 
L M LT 8 Tt 1 - Mex. a 

PENNSYLVANIA 24 10 14 

SOUTH CAROLINA sinh 9 2 
0 

TENNESSEE ae 3 8 ni 
TEXAS 39 es el 6 - Mex. 10 
UTAH 5 aa 

VIRGINIA 7 a) sie Vina 1 - Ind. 
10 oe S == 

fe) = 

() 

TOTAL 496 227 237 L2 20 

TOTAL 227 
TOTAL ITE: 249 
TOTAL l Indian; 9 Mexican; 2 Puerto Rican. 



* CALIFORNIA 
COLORADO 

CON? 
DEL? 
DIST. OF COL. 
FLORIDA 
GEORGIA 

IDAHO 
ILLINOIS 
INDIANA 
KANSAS 
KENTUCKY 

LOUISIANA 
MARYLAND 

ETTS 
MISSISSIPPI 
MISSOURI 

MONTA 
NEBE 
NEVA 
NEW 
NEW 

NEW YORK 
NORTH CAROLINA 
OHIO 
OKLAHOMA 
PENNSYLVANIA 

SOUTH CAROLINA 
SOUTH DAKOTA 
TENNESSEE 
TEXAS 
UTAH 

VIRGINIA 
GTON 

24 
ales 

5 
9 

N
w
 

ne 1 - Ind. 

1 - Mex. 2 u
n
 

TOTAL 

TOTAL WHIT 
TOTAL NON- 



Mita Sie’ 4s _ ' 

RCRLGED 2 
é 

Incorporated under the laws of the Stat 

P.0. Box 24 New York 

(212) 7 

Douglas B. Lyons. Executive Director 

BLACK 

- CALI NIA | 
COLORADO | 

CONNECTICUT 
DELAWARE | 
DIST. OF COL. 
FLORIDA i 
GEORGIA ARMED ROBBERY 2 2 

IDAHO 

ILLINOIS | 

KENTUCKY 

LOUISIANA : 
MARYLAND MURDER/RAPE 1 1 
MASSACHUSETTS 
MISSISSIPPI 
MISSOURI 

MONTANA 
NEBRASKA 
NEVADA ~ 
NEW HAMPSHIRE 
NEW JERSEY 

NEW YORK 
NORTH CAROLINA 
OHTO 
OKLAHOMA 
PENNSYLVANIA 

SOUTH CAROLINA 
SOUTH DAKOTA 
TENNESSEE 
TEXAS ARMED ROBBERY 2 “3 
UTAH 

VIRGINIA 
WASHINGTON 
WYOMING 

TOTAL EG 2 4 

TOTAL WHITE: 
TOTAL NON-WHITE: B

N