Press briefing note on death penalty in the US

​Spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights:  Marta Hurtado
Location: Geneva 
Date: 13 March 2019 
Subject:  Death penalty in the US

“We welcome the signing by the Governor of California on Wednesday of the executive order placing a moratorium on the death penalty in the state. This decision gives reprieve until at least the year 2023 to 737 inmates on death row – more than a quarter of the prisoners sentenced to capital punishment in the United States of America.

This executive order also consolidates a trend in the US towards the eradication of the death penalty - in law or in practice - over the last decades. 20 states have already abolished it and California now joins three other states with gubernatorial moratoria. We hope this moratorium will encourage other states to follow suit, and be followed by a complete abolition of capital punishment at the state and federal level. With today’s decision, California joins the international trend towards the reduction and eventual abolition of the death penalty.”

ENDS