Thank Governor Gavin Newsom for Ending Executions in California

On Wednesday, March 13, California Governor Gavin Newsom made history by announcing that he would not allow the state to execute anyone on his watch.

This is a historic step. With 737 people, California has the largest death row in the Western Hemisphere. 737 people were waiting to know if and when the government would execute them. Two out of every three prisoners on death row are people of color. At least one-third have serious mental illnesses. More than half were 25 or younger when they committed their crimes. Many of them may be innocent. Many more come from just a small handful of counties that just happen to have bloodthirsty District Attorneys. No one should be sentenced to death – let alone executed – under such circumstances, and Gov. Newsom ensured that will not happen as long as he is in office.

"Our death penalty system has been – by any measure – a failure. And as governor, I will not oversee the execution of any individual," he said on Wednesday.

Sign our message to Gov. Newsom to thank him for championing criminal justice reform, and join social justice, faith, and human rights leaders in calling on other officials to follow suit.

Gov. Newsom's order gives indefinite reprieves to all 737 people on death row. It also withdrew the state's lethal injection protocol and ordered the immediate destruction of the execution chamber at California's Death Row.

This is an example of just and moral leadership, and one that the country badly needs in this time of division and anger. While many in power call for reactionary and oppressive policies – often accompanied by thinly-veiled racism and calls to vigilante violence – Gov. Newsom is charting a different course.