SACRAMENTO, Calif. – California Governor Gavin Newsom plans to sign an executive order to place a moratorium on the state’s use of the death penalty. That will mean the state’s execution chamber at San Quentin State Prison will be shut down for the time being.
It’s a conviction Gavin Newsom has long held. In 2013 he stated, “I think we should repeal the death penalty.”
Now, as California’s newly elected governor, Newsom plans to put a moratorium on the death penalty in the Golden State.
Over the years, he’s made his stance on corporal punishment known. First, the issues of race and mental health: “it’s not a deterrent,” Newsom said. “There are racial components of that.”
The governor argues that the death sentence is unequally and unfairly used on the mentally disabled and people of color.
Another sticking point for Newsom is the possibility of innocent people being put to death. “Every year, we read about this person, that person, another person that were exonerated,” Newsom said. “DNA tests prove they were innocent.”
But the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation says that’s an outdated concern. CJLF representative Kent Scheidegger said, “It is less today than it was… say 15 years ago with all the greater scrutiny we have on forensic science.”
And then there’s the financial impact. The governor’s office says the death penalty system has cost California $4 billion since 1978. Of all the states, California has the most people on death row.
“We don’t use the death penalty today,” Newsom said. “We are warehousing folks.”
Yet, death penalty proponents argue that keeping people on death row through several years of appeals is what costs so much. Scheidegger explained, “In a capital case where there’s no doubt who did it, which is most capital cases, you can get it done in 6 years.”
By signing an executive order, Newsom will join governors of Colorado, Pennsylvania, Washington and Oregon who also used their power to suspend or delay executions.
Former Oregon governor John Kitzhaber said, “I do not believe those executions made us safer.” That’s a belief Governor Newsom also shares.
© 2024 KOBI-TV NBC5. All rights reserved unless otherwise stated.