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AP19:027

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 13, 2019
CONTACT:
SOS Press Office
(916) 653-6575

Secretary of State Alex Padilla Statement on Governor Newsom Ordering Death Penalty Moratorium in California

SACRAMENTO, CA – California Secretary of State Alex Padilla issued the following statement.

"I commend Governor Newsom for his courage in ordering a moratorium on the death penalty. As difficult as this decision must have been, it is smart and just."

"States that adopt a death penalty see no significant reduction in their murder rate and states that repeal a death penalty see no increase in their homicide rate. Put simply, there is no statistical evidence of a public safety benefit of a death penalty."

"However, there is ample evidence of the inequities that tarnish our justice system — wrongful convictions and sentencing that disproportionally reserve harsher punishments for African Americans, Latinos, the poor, and those with mental disabilities — and nowhere is this injustice more consequential than for those on death row."

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