California Gov. Gavin Newsom plans to commute the death sentences of all 548 inmates on death row in the state to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
The move is the largest clemency action in state history. Out of the 548 prisoners, 529 are men, and 19 are women.
The term-limited Democratic governor, who leaves office in January 2027, made the announcement in an open letter to Californians on Nov. 5.
“After nearly 30 years in public office, I have come to understand the limits of what government can justly accomplish,” Newsom wrote.
“I take this action because I firmly believe that state-sanctioned killing is incompatible with California’s values, undermines the foundations of our legal system, and diminishes each of us. I know we cannot execute people in our imperfect legal system and remain true to our core values, first among them justice and human decency.”
Newsom wrote that although some have said he should not grant clemency to those who committed the “worst of the worst” crimes, he has spoken to victims harmed by these crimes, and “each experiences their loss as the worst of the worst.”
Most of the commutations cannot take effect until the California Supreme Court acts. Under the California Constitution, the governor may not commute the sentence of a person who has been convicted of more than one felony unless the state high court recommends the commutation, with at least four justices concurring.
In a filing with the court, Newsom said that 382 of the prisoners have more than one felony conviction, and he asked the justices to issue their recommendation by the end of the year so that he may act before his term ends.
Newsom declared a moratorium on executions in March 2019, soon after becoming governor. The last execution in the state took place in 2006 when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, was in office.
The death penalty remains on the books in the Golden State, and a future governor could lift the moratorium, which would affect future death penalty cases. In 2016, state voters defeated a referendum to abolish capital punishment, while at the same time approving a measure that sought to speed up the death penalty appeals process.
Newsom’s announcement came after Tennessee’s failed attempt to execute convicted murderer Christa Pike on Sept. 30 raised questions about capital punishment and how it is carried out. Pike was hospitalized and returned to prison on Oct. 10.
The death penalty has also been in the spotlight after Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said the planned firing squad execution of mass murderer Nidal Hasan would be livestreamed.
President Donald Trump later said on social media that the execution would not be livestreamed. The president said streaming the event would show the world how the United States deals with terrorists, but “many very good and well meaning people would rather not watch him die, through streaming, or through any other visual device.”
Hasan was convicted by a military court-martial of killing 13 people and wounding more than 30 at the Fort Hood military base in Texas in November 2009. Although he was not charged with terrorism, he told a military sanity board that shooting soldiers was a way in which he participated in jihad, or armed struggle in the name of Islam. It was the largest mass murder ever to occur at a U.S. military installation. The execution is scheduled for Dec. 3.
Reuters contributed to this report.
