CALIFORNIA (USA): LT. GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM ENDORSES PROPOSITION TO ABOLISH THE DEATH PENALTY

July 19, 2016: California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom threw his support behind a ballot measure that would repeal the death penalty in California, saying the criminal justice policy did not deter crime and was fundamentally immoral.
In a statement, he said Proposition 62 would abolish a system "that is administered with troubling racial disparities." Newsom, who publicly supported a 2012 failed measure seeking to end capital punishment, said the initiative would also save the state millions of dollars. He cited statistics showing that California has spent $5 billion to execute 13 people since 1978.
Proposition 62 would replace capital punishment for 1st-degree murder with life in prison without the possibility of parole. It is 1 of 2 competing measures on the future of the death penalty that voters will weigh on Nov. 8. "I realize that this is a controversial issue that raises deeply felt passions on all sides," Newsom said. "But I also believe that decades from now, like with so many other once-contentious issues, America will look back at the death penalty as an archaic mistake. On issues such as this, elected leaders owe it to themselves and to their constituents to speak up and speak out - regardless of political consequences." (Source: Los Angeles Times, 19/07/2016)