{"id":14154,"date":"2019-03-13T07:45:35","date_gmt":"2019-03-13T11:45:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/?p=14154"},"modified":"2019-03-13T07:50:12","modified_gmt":"2019-03-13T11:50:12","slug":"california-death-penalty-governor-gavin-newsom-to-halt-executions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/2019\/03\/13\/california-death-penalty-governor-gavin-newsom-to-halt-executions\/","title":{"rendered":"California death penalty: Governor Gavin Newsom to halt executions"},"content":{"rendered":"

California Governor Gavin Newsom will announce a moratorium on executions and a temporary reprieve for all 737 inmates on death row in the state.<\/p>\n

US media report he plans to sign an executive order later on Wednesday, describing the death penalty as “inconsistent with our bedrock values”.<\/p>\n

California has not carried out any executions since 2006, as a series of court battles over execution methods have been waged.<\/p>\n

No death row inmates will be released.<\/p>\n

\"Gov<\/a>
Gov Newsom cannot end the death penalty permanently – a popular vote is needed to do that.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Governor Newsom took office in January and a death penalty moratorium was one of his campaign pledges.<\/p>\n

“I do not believe that a civilized society can claim to be a leader in the world as long as its government continues to sanction the premeditated and discriminatory execution of its people,” he said in a statement issued with the executive order.<\/p>\n

The order will also withdraw California’s lethal injection protocol and close down the state’s execution chamber at San Quentin prison.<\/p>\n

\"Graph<\/span><\/figure>\n
\"Presentational<\/span><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Two voter initiatives to end the death penalty in California have narrowly failed to gain a majority in recent years, with 48% support in 2012 and 47% support in 2016. Governor Newsom supported both initiatives.<\/p>\n

But a separate proposition voted on in 2016 won support for its demand to speed up executions in California.<\/p>\n

The governor does not have the power to abolish the state’s 1978 death penalty legislation permanently. A repeal would require a popular vote in favour of the change. The next opportunity for such a ballot would be at the 2020 elections.<\/p>\n

The reprieves Governor Newsom is now issuing will expire when he leaves office; his current term lasts until January 2023.<\/p>\n

More than 900 people have been sentenced to death in California since 1978 but only 13 have been executed.<\/p>\n

Another 79 have died of natural causes, and a further 26 took their own lives, figures from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation show.<\/p>\n

Capital punishment in the US<\/h2>\n