Thank You For Pledging “No 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.

“Our death penalty system has been – by any measure – a failure...And as governor, I will not oversee the execution of any individual.”

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

This is a historic step. With 738 people, California has the largest death row in the Western Hemisphere. 738 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 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 never happen as long as he is in office.

Governor Newsom’s order gives indefinite reprieves to all 738 people on death row. It also withdraws the state’s lethal injection protocol, and instructs officials to close the execution chamber at San Quentin prison.

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 more just and humane course.