TO CLOSE

Pope Francis decreed that the death penalty was "inadmissible" in all circumstances and that the Catholic Church should work to abolish it, thus modifying the official teaching of the Church to reflect its point of departure. view that all life is sacred. (August 2nd)
AP

SAN FRANCISCO – The governor of California, Gavin Newsom, announced Wednesday the publication of a decree immediately defining a moratorium on the killing of death row inmates, announced Tuesday night the United States.

California has 737 death row inmates, about one-quarter of the convicted corridor population, and by far the largest of all states. Some 24 of them have been convicted of murder and have exhausted their appeals, which means they could be sentenced to death under Newsom's governor.

Guards walk in a hallway of San Quentin State Prison, San Quentin, California. (Photo: Ben Margot / AP)

"The intentional killing of another person is a mistake," said Newsom, 51, when signing the decree. "And as governor, I will not supervise the execution of an individual."

The ordinance grants immediate reprieve to all those sentenced to death in the state. He derives his power from the governor's ability to commute the death sentences. As a rule, these commutations are carried out individually, but in this case, the director general of the state is in the process of establishing a general moratorium.

The governors of Oregon, Colorado and Pennsylvania have instituted similar moratoria relying on the same executive powers.

Newsom's policy change comes as support for the death penalty has declined over the decades. According to one According to a study by the Pew Research Center last year, 54% of Americans support the death penalty for murder and 39% are against. This is down significantly from 1996, when 78% of them supported it.

In 2016, California voters narrowly rejected Proposition 62, which would have perpetuated all death sentences without the possibility of parole.

Newsom has long voiced its opposition to the death penalty, tweeting election day in 2016 that "the death penalty is a failed policy that squanders money and is fundamentally immoral".

Discussion points released by the Newsom bureau on Tuesday raised various reasons for the governor's moratorium, including his position that the death penalty is inherently racist and biased against the mentally ill; the wrongly convicted sometimes die in the hands of the state; and the death penalty is expensive and does not increase security.

"In America, we execute more human beings than any other democracy on earth," Newsom has been told. "Only in 2017, the United States joined Iran, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Pakistan, China and Egypt as the world's leading executioners" .

Newsom will add that the death penalty "has not provided any benefit in terms of public security or public safety value, has wasted billions of taxpayer dollars, but most importantly, the death penalty is absolute." Irreversible and irreparable. in case of human error. "

California has not killed an inmate since 2006 at the San Quentin State Prison, the scene of many vigil demonstrations against the death penalty over the decades, largely because of lingering legal issues who delayed such executions.

Such legal challenges from groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union are not likely to disappear. But Newsom's executive order makes it less likely that the two dozen short-term inmates will see the gas chamber.

According to the Pew study, the number of executions on death row in the United States peaked at 98 in 1998. Since then, 23 inmates have been executed in 2017. Eight states – Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, Ohio, Texas and Virginia – were behind all executions in 2017, up from 20 in 1999.

Newsom's moratorium concerns death row prisoners, but there is evidence that death sentences are down, according to a report by Safe California, a site dedicated to capital punishment initiatives. In a 2018 survey by county, Los Angeles reported two death sentences (up from 14 in 2017), one in Orange County, one death sentence (up from six), and Kern County, zero (versus four ).

A growing number of Democratic leaders, including Senator Kamala Harris of California, and Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, support the abolition of the death penalty, while President Donald Trump has declared that "the death penalty" is being passed. he supported the death penalty for drug traffickers and those who murdered a policeman. .

In August 2018, Pope Francis commented on the subject: "The death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person." He said the Catholic Church should work for its abolition around the world.

Follow the national correspondent of USA TODAY @marcodellacava

Read or share this story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2019/03/12/california-governor-freezes-death-penalty-calls-immoral/3146062002/