“I won’t be able to sleep at night,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said of allowing executions to resume once a revised lethal injection procedure is approved by the courts. “This is about who I am as a human being. This is about what I can, and cannot, do.”
A death row inmate with a cane is escorted across the yard on his way to a morning appointment at San Quentin State Prison.
Few decisions as governor will afford Newsom a similar chance to speak beyond the heated battles of the moment. Even humanitarian dilemmas like To do more on the death penalty will take the support of the voters and an amendment to the California Constitution. The governor offered a brief sketch of what that campaign’s message might look like — ending racial and class inequity in death sentences, reducing the cost to taxpayers for years of court appeals, stopping the immorality of state-sanctioned killing — but stopped short of pledging to lead the effort.
Data from decades of the nonpartisan Field Poll show consistently strong statewide support for the death penalty as far back as the mid-1950s. Even in 2011, 68% of registered voters surveyed were in favor. Self-described “middle of the road” voters seemed to be a key factor.
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