Make No Mistake, Stopping Executions Like This Is Good

via Wikimedia

PushBlack
April 7, 2019

California Governor Gavin Newsom just did something bold. He suspended the death penalty. Voters almost repealed the practice a few years ago but failed. His move to put executions on hold is giving its opponents hope.

We know a couple of things for sure about the death penalty: it’s outdated and it’s racist. The likelihood of Black people being sentenced to death is higher than that of whites. Execution isn’t even practiced in many places around the world, but the USA carries on.

A California Supreme Court justice named Goodwin Liu recently said in an opinion that the death penalty system in California is dysfunctional, expensive, and unable to “keep the promise of justice” according to the SFGate.

Governor Newsom admitted the death penalty “discriminated against defendants who are mentally ill, Black and brown, or can't afford expensive legal representation.” That sounds like a GREAT reason to stop it, but Newsom is only pausing it while he’s in charge.

We’ll have to hope more things like this happen at the state level. Until then the USA will be one of a small number of nations that still execute people instead of one of the nations that have rightfully abolished this racist practice.

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