In 1972 the California Supreme Court ruled the death penalty unconstitutional, the same year the US Supreme Court did so. But as the 1970s went on, and a crime wave fueled law and order politics, the death penalty experienced a revival. The US Supreme Court reversed itself in 1976 and the California Legislature restored the death penalty in 1977, with voters approving a version of their own in 1978. When California Supreme Court Chief Justice Rose Bird was recalled in 1986 for her opposition to the death penalty, it seemed that executions would become a common part of state prison practice.

But it didn’t turn out that way. Since 1992, when executions finally resumed, only 13 people have been executed, with 702 people on Death Row. And executions have been on hold since 2006 when the lethal injection method was blocked by a judge.

Crime rates have declined over the last 20 years, but not due to the death penalty. Other factors appear to be at work, and given the state’s slow pace of executions, hardly anyone can claim that the death penalty’s “deterrence” role was responsible for the decline.

So it was the right thing for the California Democratic Party to finally add a plank it its platform last month calling for the abolition of the death penalty. The San Francisco Chronicle finally took notice in an article today, wondering what the impact will be on Jerry Brown and other candidates. CDP Chair John Burton has a pretty good response to those who think the CDP’s position may hurt Brown:

But state Democratic Party Chairman John Burton, a death penalty opponent, said he thinks the issue has lost its potency. He said Brown’s opponents tried to use his position on executions against him in the 2006 election for attorney general, to no avail.

“I think people have respect for deeply held beliefs as long as you’re up front about them,” Burton said.

Burton is absolutely right about this. And I believe it holds true for the candidates currently running to replace Jerry Brown as AG – particularly San Francisco DA Kamala Harris. Harris opposes the death penalty, keeping in line with both common sense (it’s a failed policy) and the CDP platform.

But not all AG candidates share Brown’s and Harris’s principled, sensible position. Chris Kelly, the Facebook privacy czar (heck of a job there, Chris!), has been criticizing Harris’s opposition to the death penalty and touting his own support of it.

As David Dayen realized last summer, Chris Kelly is making a fool of himself with his tough on crime rhetoric. And now Kelly is proving he’s deeply out of touch with his own party and its base.

The death penalty is a failure. Jerry Brown and Kamala Harris deserve credit for realizing that fact. Chris Kelly, on the other hand, needs to explain to Californians why they should continue to support a failed, costly, pointless policy.