Aqeela Sherrills

By Aqeela Sherrills

Published on January 26, 2010 by the Los Angeles Daily News.

THIS month marks the fifth anniversary of my son Terrell's death.

Terrell went to a party with friends in 2005 in an affluent neighborhood and was shot to death. He was home on winter break from Humboldt State University. Even though Terrell had never been involved with a gang, he became a victim of random gang violence.

Terrell's younger brother and sister suffer to this day. The perpetrator has never been caught or charged. But with every passing year I grow more committed to seeing justice through and to ending this type of senseless violence. I know one key is for parents to act more wisely to protect young people.

I know Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger worries about his kids, too. That's why I'm puzzled by the governor's budget choices. Slashing programs that help to reduce violent crimes won't make anyone safer, and neither will wasteful corrections spending.

Our death penalty system costs California taxpayers $137 million each year, according to the California Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice - more than we spend on Head Start early education programs. Every year, California spends an estimated $117 million after conviction on efforts to execute the 700 prisoners already on Death Row. Death penalty trials cost local taxpayers an additional $20 million per year at the current pace of 20 to 30 sentences per year. Hundreds of millions of dollars spent and none have been shown to deter murderers, curb gang violence, or even help close unsolved homicide cases.

In contrast, permanent imprisonment - lifelong incarceration with no chance of parole - for all inmates currently on Death Row would cost just $11.5 million. It would free up funds we could use to clear thousands of open cases and fund prevention programs that work.

I can't understand why the governor is ready to risk reversing the record decrease in 2009 in Los Angeles' gang homicide rate. There is no way to justify spending millions of dollars on a broken, expensive death penalty system when California is broke, especially when it does not even work as a deterrent.

There is no way to measure grief, but there are ways we could minimize it. The governor should honor Terrell's memory and put our state's limited resources to good use. End wasteful spending, help us to solve more murders and support early childhood intervention and violence prevention programs. This would go a long way toward protecting all young people from random violence, especially those in urban war zones.

We could work toward preventing murders instead of executing the select few murderers who are already in prison. We could stop wasting money when killers remain at large and we have a swift, severe and certain way to punish them once they are caught.

One day I'd like to tell my granddaughter Heavenly that her father's murderer has been apprehended and that justice will be served. I pray that I can tell her that her dad's death was not in vain. I pray that these words from one father, who loves and misses his son, will appeal to the humanity of another.

Permanent imprisonment is a viable alternative to our deeply flawed death penalty system. Cutting health and human services and propping up a broken death penalty system is a guarantee for more heartbreak. California doesn't need more grieving families like mine.

Aqeela Sherrills is one of the original organizers of the Watts "gang truce" in 1992 and currently the Southern California outreach coordinator for California Crime Victims for Alternatives to the Death Penalty.