In late July, California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom voiced his support for the ballot measure that would repeal the death penalty in California. Newsom said the policy did not deter crime and was fundamentally immoral.

Proposition 62 would abolish a system “that is administered with troubling racial disparities,” he said.

“(I)…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…Elected leaders owe it to themselves and to their constituents to speak up and speak out — regardless of political consequences.”

Proposition 62 would replace death as the punishment for first degree murder with life in prison without the possibility of parole. On Nov. 8, voters will also weigh a competing measure to speed up the execution process.