“The intentional killing of another person is wrong and as Governor, I will not oversee the execution of any individual,” Newsom stated in a news release. “Our death penalty system has been, by all measures, a failure. It has discriminated against defendants who are mentally ill, black and brown, or can’t afford expensive legal representation. It has provided no public safety benefit or value as a deterrent. It has wasted billions of taxpayer dollars. Most of all, the death penalty is absolute. It’s irreversible and irreparable in the event of human error.”
There are 737 people currently on death row in California. California has the largest death row population in the Western Hemisphere — one in four people on death row in the United States are in California.
More than six in 10 people on California’s death row are people of color. A 2005 study found that those convicted of killing whites were more than three times as likely to be sentenced to death as those convicted of killing blacks and more than four times as likely as those convicted of killing Latinos. At least 18 of the 25 people executed in the U.S. in 2018 had one or more of the following impairments: significant evidence of mental illness; evidence of brain injury, developmental brain damage, or an IQ in the intellectually disabled range; chronic serious childhood trauma, neglect, and/or abuse.
Since 1973, 164 condemned prisoners nationwide, including five in California, have been freed from death row after they were found to have been wrongfully convicted. No person has been executed in California since 2006; yet today, 25 California death row inmates have exhausted all of their state and federal appeals and could be eligible for an execution date.
Since 1978, California has spent $5 billion on a death penalty system that has executed 13 people. Three states — Oregon, Colorado and Pennsylvania — have Governor-imposed moratoria on the death penalty and in 2018, the Washington State Supreme Court struck down the death penalty as unconstitutional and “racially biased.”
A copy of the governor’s executive order signed Wednesday, March 13, can be found here.
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Random Stranger says
Maybe we should clean up that wrongful conviction problem before we fire up old sparky again.
Laughing says
But can we use the gases on the ones we have on video doing the crimes?
Or the ones with DNA evidence, motive, and a witness?
Alexis says
You don’t have to have video or a motive. Plus one witness is not enough.
Laughing says
That is why I paired the one witness WITH motive and DNA evidence. Then one witness can be enough.
Of course we do not have to have video, but it sure goes a long way in providing demeanor during the act of a crime.
Alexis says
Rodney Alcala: Serial killer and rapist. There are many on death row that are 100% guilty, and a jury pronounced death for the worst of the worst. Immoral? What righteous standard does he base his mind-set on? The same righteous standard that says it is moral to execute a baby with a fetal heartbeat? If Governor Newsom want to claim moral reasoning, then don’t sit on the fence with one foot on the moral side, and the other on the immoral side.
Alexis says
Governor Newsom cannot end the death penalty permanently; a popular vote is needed to do that. It is amazing that in his self righteous mind-set, he rebels against the voters that want to speed up executions.
trumpist#1 says
Voters are irrelevant and our system is broken. Remember Prop 187?
Patriots awaken!
TaxPayer says
“It has wasted billions of taxpayer dollars”
That’s all I care about
Laughing says
And will continue to do so now that we have to support killers for life when they took life/s.
Against the majority voters wishes.
Marza says
Just wondering of the governor’s gene pool. I was told he is N. Pelosi’s nephew. Can anyone verify?
Alexis says
Nancy Pelosi is Gavin Newsom’s aunt by marriage.
RC Lancaster says
And he also has ties to the Getting family!
Sam Ting says
Nepotism is rampant in Lancaster. Both Rex and Marv’s sons were on the Planning Commission. If you work for Rex’s suing machine, you can end up as a Deputy Mayor or run or office in Palmdale or even have a position created for you at AVTA. Rex’s lil’ bro is head of AVEK. The Lancaster school system is just as bad.
Nepotism is nothing new. It’s a Lancaster value.
Arnie Rodio says
Nobody dares to challenge Rex or Marvin as they will turn their collective supporters to have you or your buissness ruined. These two are running amuck and watchdogs are asleep. we are screwed
Awaywithabortion says
OH !! So glad he values life! Now he will also sign an executive order to stop abortion immediately too right? Oh, that’s right , the life growing inside a woman can’t be recognized as a life unless it’s wanted. HYPOCRITE!!!
San Quentin Alumni says
Off to general population…