California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced plans to commute the death sentences of all 548 people on the state’s death row to life in prison without parole. (Foto: Instagram)
California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Thursday, Nov. 5, that he will commute the death sentences of all 548 prisoners awaiting execution in the state to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The action could empty California’s death row, although hundreds of the sentence changes require approval from the state Supreme Court.
Newsom, a Democrat who is due to leave office in January, described the decision as one of his final acts as governor. He said his opposition to capital punishment motivated the move, arguing that executions carried out by the government conflict with California’s values. In a letter to Californians, he wrote that state-authorized killing is incompatible with those values, undermines the foundations of the legal system and diminishes everyone.
The commutations cover 529 men and 19 women. The California Supreme Court must approve 382 of them because those prisoners were convicted of more than one serious crime, a circumstance in which the governor cannot grant clemency alone. If all the commutations are approved, none of the 548 prisoners would remain subject to execution.
Newsom acknowledged that the decision could reopen painful wounds for relatives of crime victims. He said it was among the most difficult choices of his political career, not because he questioned the need for the change, but because of the emotional consequences for those families.
California has not executed a prisoner since 2006. In 2019, Newsom halted executions through an executive order but left the death penalty in state law. Since then, no one on death row has been executed, even as hundreds remained under death sentences. Newsom has cited racial disparities, judicial errors and high costs in criticizing the system, and has argued that capital punishment is not an effective crime deterrent. California has the largest death-row population in the Western Hemisphere.
The commutations will not abolish the death penalty in California. State law will continue to allow capital punishment for future convictions; formally eliminating it would require a change to state law, potentially through a public vote. In 2016, California voters rejected a proposal to abolish the death penalty and approved a separate measure intended to speed up executions. Gov.-elect Xavier Becerra also opposes capital punishment and has said he intends to maintain the suspension of executions.
