Why I put a freeze on the death penalty | By California Gov. Gavin Newsom for CNNOpinion
Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, is the governor of California. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author. View more opinion articles on CNN.
As the tide turns toward a more just criminal justice system, California again has a responsibility to lead the way -- and in doing so, show the world who we are and what we stand for. The death penalty as we know it represents an unfair, unjust and unequal system that does not make us safer. Gavin NewsomIn America, we execute more human beings than any other democracy on Earth, and we administer the death penalty in ways that are absolutely contrary to our bedrock responsibility to ensure equal justice under the law. In California, we have the largest death row anywhere in the Western Hemisphere, with 737 people awaiting execution. More than six in 10 of them are African-American or Latino.
California governor: Border wall a monument to stupidity 01:32 After careful deliberation, I concluded that the heavy cost of the death penalty is one we can no longer afford -- not just the financial burden on our justice system, but the moral cost of executing fellow Californians. I took this action because death sentences are unevenly and unfairly applied based on race, income and mental disability, and because we cannot abide the potential execution of an innocent person.
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