5,072,130 / 72.5% Yes votes ...... 1,926,068 / 27.5% No votes

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Meaning of Voting Yes/No

A YES vote of this measure means:

Additional first degree murderers who killed a victim by means of lying in wait or whose crime also involved kidnapping or arson would be subject to punishment by death or life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, rather than imprisonment for 25 years to life.

A NO vote of this measure means:

Offenders involved in murders under those circumstances would remain subject to punishment by a prison term of 25 years to life.

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Summary of Arguments FOR Proposition 18:

Proposition 18 gives juries the right to impose a sentence of death or life imprisonment without parole for a criminal who kidnaps someone to murder that person or sets fire to a building so as to murder the occupants, and does so murder them.

Full Text of Argument In Favor, Rebuttal

Summary of Arguments AGAINST Proposition 18:

Taxpayers who prefer life imprisonment, rather than execution, as the penalty for murder should vote No. California needs to reduce, rather than increase, the legal and moral costs of capital punishment. This proposition ignores the experience of the last 22 years, both here and in other states.

Full Text of Argument Against, Rebuttal

Contact FOR Proposition 18:

Michael D. Bradbury
District Attorney County of Ventura
800 S. Victoria Ave.
Ventura, CA 93009
(805) 654-2501

Contact AGAINST Proposition 18:

Mike Farrell, President
Death Penalty Focus of California
74 New Montgomery Street, #250
San Francisco, CA 94105
(415) 243-0143
dpf@deathpenalty.org
http://www.deathpenalty.org/

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Los Angeles Times

• Voters to Decide Many Low-Profile Ballot Measures 2/28/00

• Three crime-related initiatives on ballot 2/17/00

• Measure expands death penalty law 2/29/00

• About Proposition 18