State Senator Scott Wilk, R-Santa Clarita, and State Assemblymember Tom Lackey, R-Palmdale, released statements dissenting with Gov. Gavin Newsom’s decision to sign an executive order on Wednesday which suspended the death penalty in California.

“My thoughts and sympathies are with the victims of violent crime today,” Wilk said. “Gov. Newsom’s unilateral decision to place a moratorium on the death penalty is a slap in their face. If the governor believes the death penalty is wrong and should be abolished, he should put it before the voters, not unilaterally re-victimize innocent families and loved ones of the victim.”

Both Wilk and Lackey referenced the failure of California Proposition 62 to pass in 2016, expressing concern that Newsom’s decision was made in defiance of the will of the people.

If passed, Prop 62 would have abolished the death penalty, but it was defeated by a margin of 6.3 percent, according to the office of the California Secretary of State.

“Gov. Newsom just abandoned his promise to be a leader for all Californians by putting his own views above the will of the people,” Lackey said. “In 2016, Californians spoke loud and clear by rejecting a plan to repeal the death penalty by a decisive margin. It’s insulting that Gov. Newsom would go back on his promise to honor the voters’ choice.”

Newsom’s office released a statement Wednesday morning outlining the rationale behind signing the executive order.

“The intentional killing of another person is wrong, and as governor, I will not oversee the execution of any individual,” Newsom said. “Our death penalty system has been, by all measures, a failure.”

California currently has 737 people on death row, the largest death row population in the Western Hemisphere, according to the release.

Additionally, the release states that at least 18 of the 25 people executed in the U.S. in 2018 had at least one of the following impairments: evidence of brain injury, developmental brain damage or an IQ in the intellectually disabled range; chronic, serious childhood trauma, neglect or abuse and significant evidence of mental illness.

“(The system) has discriminated against defendants who are mentally ill, black and brown, or can’t afford expensive legal representation,” Newsom said. “It has provided no public safety benefit or value as a deterrent. It has wasted billions of taxpayer dollars. Most of all, the death penalty is absolute. It’s irreversible and irreparable in the event of human error.”

California has spent $5 billion on its death penalty system since 1978, but it has only executed 13 people in that time, according to the release.

Governor Newsom’s full statement can be read on his website here.