纽森考虑为加州563名死囚全体减刑 若成行全美死囚将减少逾四分之一
加州州长加文·纽森（Gavin Newsom）正在考虑一项史无前例的举措：在明年1月离任前，为加州全部563名死囚减刑。据《纽约时报》10月7日报道，纽森近日加强了与幕僚的商议；田纳西州女囚克里斯塔·派克（Christa Pike）处决事故成为新的触动点——行刑时两剂强效镇静剂都未能将她处死。在自己的播客节目中，纽森曾向人权律师布莱恩·史蒂文森发问：「我要不要减刑西半球最大的死囚群体？」他还形容，这是一个必须通过「良心测试、摇椅测试」的决定。加州自2006年以来没有执行过死刑，纽森2019年以行政命令暂停死刑执行，但此后仍有200多人被判死刑。加州死囚人数为西半球最多；563人若全体减刑，将使全美死囚总数减少超过四分之一。不过，对有多项重罪前科的死囚，减刑还须获得加州最高法院批准。受害者权益组织「犯罪受害者团结会」（Crime Victims United）主席托波·帕迪拉公开批评称，563宗死刑判决背后是6756名陪审员的一致裁决，州长一人推翻判决，是对司法程序和受害者家属的冒犯。纽森尚未作出最终决定。（来源：纽约时报、KTVU）
Newsom weighs commuting all 563 California death sentences in historic move
California Governor Gavin Newsom is weighing an unprecedented step: commuting the sentences of all 563 inmates on the state's death row before he leaves office next January. According to an October 7 report by The New York Times, Newsom has stepped up discussions with his advisers in recent days, and a botched execution in Tennessee — where two doses of a powerful sedative failed to kill death row inmate Christa Pike — has weighed on his thinking. On his podcast, Newsom put the question to civil rights attorney Bryan Stevenson: "Do I commute the largest death row in the Western Hemisphere?" He described the choice as one that must pass his own "consciousness test" and "rocking chair test." California has not carried out an execution since 2006; Newsom imposed a moratorium by executive order in 2019, yet more than 200 people have been sentenced to death since then. California's death row is the largest in the Western Hemisphere, and commuting all 563 sentences would cut the national death row population by more than a quarter. For inmates with multiple felony convictions, however, commutations would still require approval from the California Supreme Court. Topo Padilla of Crime Victims United blasted the idea, noting that the 563 capital verdicts were reached unanimously by 6,756 jurors and calling a single-handed reversal an affront to the judicial process and victims' families. Newsom has not yet made a final decision. (Sources: The New York Times, KTVU)
图片来源：图片来源：Frank Schulenburg（CC BY-SA 4.0，Wikimedia Commons）/ Frank Schulenburg, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)