California Gov. Gavin Newsom to freeze the death penalty

Gavin Newsom.
(Image credit: Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) is expected to announce on Wednesday that he will use an executive order to put a moratorium on the death penalty, USA Today reports.

There are now 737 inmates on California's death row, with 24 having exhausted all of their appeals. During his announcement, Newsom is planning on declaring that the "intentional killing of another person is wrong" and "as governor, I will not oversee the execution of any individual," USA Today says. He will argue that the death penalty is inherently racist, biased against the mentally ill, does not increase safety, is expensive, and has led to the deaths of wrongfully convicted inmates.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.