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Death penalty determinations

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In spite of the admonishment to keep church and state separate, the  legal system of the United States is deeply rooted in the British common  law system, which in turn was influenced by the Judeo Christian  traditions of the bible (the current California common law system  consecutively was conceived as an alternative for nineteenth century  Spanish civil law, which undoubtedly felt the sway of the Catholic  church, and have kept certain features as have other southwestern states  that were originally part of Mexico).  So is it that the influence of  the scriptures casts a shadow over the way we are governed, even though  pains have been taken to keep our laws secular.
This perhaps, can  explain the schizophrenia that exists around the issue of capital  punishment, the pros and cons of which have been argued at least since  the first officers of this nations court were appointed.  Like  everything else, the penalties for homicide and other violent crimes are  predicated on the political atmosphere of a given time span.  During  the Depression of the 1930s, executions were regularly conducted but  tapered off during World War II.  The late 60s and early 70s witnessed  a virtual halt in state sanctioned killings, perhaps reflective of the  anti-establishment-counter cultural trend sweeping the nation.  More  recently, over 100 people have been wrongfully executed (later  vindicated by evidence presented after their deaths) in the U.S. since  1976, according to a study by the Pew Charitable Trusts.
A quick  glance at the current condemned inmate list on the Department of  Corrections website (http://www.cdcr.ca.gov/index.html) shows a total of  669 people slated to receive the ultimate penalty.  Of these, 239 are  black; while over a quarter (196) come from L.A. County.  California  easily out distances the other 49 states by far, with Florida being a  distant second with 397 inmates awaiting execution.

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