California's death penalty "dysfunctional"

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The California death penalty system, plagued by backlogs in appeals that routinely delay executions by more than two decades, is "dysfunctional" and in danger of collapse, a state commission concluded Monday.

The report by the California Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice offered a blistering indictment of the system, saying the state has fostered a "disrespect for the rule of law and weakened any possible deterrent benefits of capital punishment."

In the state that maintains the largest death row — currently 669 condemned inmates — the report determined that California could save up to $100 million a year by abolishing the death penalty. Yet the 22-member panel stopped short of recommending its elimination.

"Although outright abolition would be the cleanest, most definitive approach to death penalty reform … we recognize that, ultimately, a political judgment must be made about whether the time is right to seek a fresh electoral choice on whether California ought to have a death penalty," the report said.