“California’s death penalty system is a long, agonizing ordeal for our family. My sister’s killer was sentenced to death, but countless appeals keep our wounds open and fresh. The death penalty is an empty promise of justice. A life sentence without parole would bring real closure.”

“I led the campaign to bring the death penalty back to California in 1978. It was a costly mistake. Now I know we just hurt the victims’ families we were trying to help and wasted taxpayer dollars. The death penalty cannot be fixed. We need to replace it, lock up murderers for good, make them work, and move on."

“It wasn’t until the prison door slammed on my back that it finally hit me: They’re going to kill me. For nothing.”

“I am asking mothers and families to vote for the law that will end the death penalty. Most people who receive this punishment are low-income residents who do not have the resources to defend themselves, and many are innocent. We can change this. Vote to end the death penalty.”

“I was wrongly accused of murder and spent 20 years in prison for a crime I did not commit. After a long legal battle – where witnesses recanted and new evidence came to light - I was exonerated and given my freedom back. If I had been sentenced to death instead of life in prison, this might have been a different story. I lost 20 good years, but not my life.”

“Prop 62 will replace the death penalty in California with life in prison without parole, saving California hundreds of millions of dollars every year and abolishing a system that is administered with troubling racial disparities. I believe that decades from now, like with so many other once-contentious issues, America will look back at the death penalty as an archaic mistake.”