Taking a break from calling President Donald Trump an authoritarian, California Gov. Gavin Newsom has decided to unilaterally eliminate the death penalty in California, rewriting sentences in hundreds of cases against the will of California voters.
On his way out of office, Newsom commuted the sentences of all 548 convicted criminals on California’s death row. Newsom had already paused all executions in California, preventing families of the victims from receiving the justice promised to them by California’s criminal justice system. Now, pretending that he is actually looking out for the families of these victims, Newsom has decreed that every death sentence previously handed down is void. All 548 criminals will now serve “life without parole.”
Newsom did this despite the will of California voters having been made crystal clear over the years. Californians overwhelmingly voted) to expand the death penalty back in 1978, and voters shot down an attempt to repeal it in 2012. In 2016, voters not only voted down another proposition aimed at repealing the death penalty but also approved a proposition that shortened the appeals process with the goal of speeding up executions from the glac...