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 has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.