Catholic death penalty opponents praised Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom for his decision to use his “constitutional clemency authority” to commute all California death sentences to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Source: OSV News.
Mr Newsom, a Catholic who is preparing to leave office in January, wrote in an open letter on November 5 addressed “to All Californians” that “I take this action because I firmly believe that state-sanctioned killing is incompatible with California’s values, undermines the foundations of our legal system and diminishes each of us”.
According to data from the Death Penalty Information Centre, although California has not carried out an execution in more than 20 years, it has maintained the nation’s largest death-row population.
Mr Newsom’s action reduces the United States death-row population by nearly 30 per cent, according to the centre’s data.
His letter said the 548 people who have death sentences in the state comprise “the largest death row in the Western Hemisphere”.
Mr Newsom, who is widely seen as likely to seek his party’s presidential nomination in 2028, said he would “follow the moral leadership of past presidents, including our Founding Fathers, and governors across America, from all political parties, who used their executive authority to commute death sentences.”
Krisanne Vaillancourt Murphy, executive director of Catholic Mobilising Network, a group that advocates for the abolition of capital punishment in line with Catholic teaching, said in a November 5 statement that, in commuting the sentences to life imprisonment, Mr Newsom “has given each of these individuals a tangible sign of hope and a chance for rehabilitation”.
“Every person deserves the opportunity to transform hurt and suffering into healing, redemption, and wholeness,” Ms Vaillancourt Murphy said.
“At the same time, we bear witness to the incomparable suffering that the families and loved ones of murder victims endure. We hear the cry for justice and accountability that grave harm rightly deserves, and we continue to hold them in prayer.”
In a statement, Sr Helen Prejean, who is a national advocate for the end of the death penalty and author of Dead Man Walking, said Mr Newsom’s decision is an answer to the prayers of many who have long called for him to take such action.
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Catholic death penalty opponents praise Newsom for commuting California death sentences (By Kate Scanlon, OSV News)
