Learn more about California’s governor, Gavin Newsom
Gavin Newsom, the superstar former mayor of San Francisco, now governor of California, is making waves again with his first major executive order. The death penalty in the state of California is officially halted, saving the lives of over 700 inmates currently sentenced to death. It’s unclear how long the moratorium lasts, but it will at least be until the end of his governorship, whenever that should be. Find out why Newsom decided on the moratorium:
1. He announced a moratorium on the death penalty on March 13. The order grants a reprieve to the 737 inmates currently sitting on California’s death row. Newsom said that he couldn’t, in good conscious, sign someone to death, calling it a “personal” and “moral decision.” He cited the criminal justice system’s disproportionate conviction rate for minorities, as well as economic inequalities as reason for halting death sentences.
“The American justice system is completely broken, and we all are perpetuating it,” Newsom said in an interview with ABC KGO . “The systemic racism, the implicit bias, the overt bias, the whims of prosecutors based on geography, based on the will of people in the moment, fear and anxiety….
