{"id":15779,"date":"2019-03-20T01:04:11","date_gmt":"2019-03-20T01:04:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=15779"},"modified":"2019-03-21T12:27:36","modified_gmt":"2019-03-21T12:27:36","slug":"death-penalty-moratorium-in-california-what-it-means-for-the-state-and-for-the-nation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/death-penalty-moratorium-in-california-what-it-means-for-the-state-and-for-the-nation\/","title":{"rendered":"Death penalty moratorium in California \u2013 what it means for the state and for the nation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hadar Aviram<\/a>, University of California, Hastings<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Both celebration \u2013 and ire \u2013 followed Gov. Gavin Newsom\u2019s announcement of a moratorium on the death penalty in California<\/a>.<\/p>\n

California\u2019s 737 death row inmates constitute more than a quarter of the national number<\/a>. Keeping them on death row costs US$150 million a year<\/a> more than sentencing them to life without parole.<\/p>\n

California\u2019s death penalty has been at an impasse for decades. The state has not put anyone to death since Clarence Ray Allen<\/a>\u2019s execution in 2006.<\/p>\n

The state\u2019s use of lethal injections was fiercely debated for years<\/a>. Twice \u2013 once in 2012<\/a> and again in 2016<\/a> \u2013 Californians voted on measures to repeal the death penalty, and rejected them. Newsom\u2019s step, which in many ways echoes his historical move as then-San Francisco mayor to marry same-sex couples<\/a> in 2004, pushes the state in a new direction.<\/p>\n

As a criminal justice scholar interested in death and life sentences in California<\/a> and in criminal justice policy generally<\/a>, I see Newsom\u2019s order as a sign that the death penalty may soon end nationwide.<\/p>\n

Let me explain.<\/p>\n

Losing public support<\/h2>\n

While the United States Supreme Court found the death penalty constitutional<\/a> in 1976, nationwide support for the death penalty is at its lowest point since the 1960s<\/a>. With this moratorium, California joins a growing list of states who moved away from putting people to death<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Twenty states have abolished the death penalty \u2013 eight of them recently. Four more, including California, have placed a moratorium on its use.<\/p>\n