California Governor Gavin Newsom has signed an executive order putting a moratorium on plans to execute more than 700 prisoners on death row. This is Governor Newsom speaking in Sacramento Wednesday.

Gov. Gavin Newsom: “To line people up to be executed—premeditated, state-sponsored executions, one a week for over 14 years—that’s a choice we can make. Or we can make, I think, a more enlightened choice: to advance justice in a different way. It was a National Academy of Science report that came out that estimates one out of every 25 people on death row is innocent. If that’s the case, that means if we move forward executing 737 people in California, we will have executed roughly 30 people that are innocent. I don’t know about you; I can’t sign my name to that.”

The order does not abolish the death penalty in California but will ban the practice during Newsom’s tenure.