deukmejian largely made his career by being tough on crime. when he was in the legislature, he wrote california's capital punishment law. as a candidate for reelection, in 1986 he opposed the retention election of three brown-appointed justices of the supreme court of california due to their consistent opposition to the death penalty in any and all circumstances. one of them (the best known) was rose bird, the first female chief justice of the court (and the first one to be voted off). deukmejian proceeded to elevate his friend and law partner, malcolm m. lucas, from associate justice to chief justice, and appointed three new associate justices. under deukmejian, the california prison population nearly tripled — as of december 31, 1982, the total prison population stood at 34,640 inmates. he increased spending for the building of new prisons.