Why the death penalty has been suspended in California

California Governor Gavin Newsom has announced an executive moratorium on capital punishment, giving a reprieve to the 737 inmates waiting on the largest death row in the Western Hemisphere.

The order will suspend further executions in California during Newsom’s time in office, by holding the inmates’ sentences. Approval from the California State Supreme Court would be required to commute the death sentence to life in prison for inmates with prior felonies, while only California voters have the power to abolish the death penalty, under state law.

Newsom told the Los Angeles Times that the issue is a deep and personal one, adding: “A governor has to sign off – and you have to live with yourself.”

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Despite California's reputation as one of the more liberal states, its voters have long disagreed on the issue of capital punishment. In 2016, the state narrowly voted to approve Proposition 66, to speed up the process of capital trials and executions, with the last execution in California having taken place in 2006.

According to NPR, the moratorium will no doubt put Newsom in the national spotlight, even though the once-radical idea has become commonplace across the states.

But only three others – Oregon, Pennsylvania and Colorado – have suspended executions through a governor-issued moratorium. Other states have either passed legislation or their State Supreme Courts have deemed it unconstitutional.

Shilpi Agarwal, a staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union in San Francisco, says state policies in California often set the tone for popular opinion nationally, reports The New York Times.

“The fact that so many states have abolished the death penalty – but California hasn’t – has given people cover for this narrative that people are still supportive of the death penalty,” she said.

Even though the majority of California Democrats have long opposed the death penalty, this is still likely to elevate Newsom’s national image among liberals. However, it also puts him at risk of condemnation from the likes of victim advocates, President Trump and others.

NPR says that seems to be a risk that Newsom is “willing, if not happy, to take”.

California currently has 737 inmates on death row in San Quentin prison, approximately a quarter of all death row inmates in the United States. California has executed only 13 prisoners since reinstating the death penalty in 1978, and has spent $5bn (£3.8bn) sustaining the practice.