Newsom Commutes All 548 California Death Sentences to Life Without Parole

California Governor Gavin Newsom announced on November 5 that he is commuting the death sentences of all 548 people on the state's death row to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

The action covers 529 men and 19 women. It is the largest mass commutation of death sentences in U.S. history, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. California holds the largest death row in the Western Hemisphere. The state has not carried out an execution since 2006. Only 13 people have been executed since voters restored capital punishment in 1978.

Newsom wrote in an open letter to Californians that state-sanctioned killing is incompatible with the state's values and undermines the foundations of its legal system. He has opposed executions as an elected official for nearly three decades. In 2019 he imposed a moratorium on executions that remains in effect. The new commutations convert the sentences themselves rather than merely suspending them.

Roughly 382 of the cases involve people with more than one felony conviction. Those commutations require review and approval by the California Supreme Court. Four of the seven justices must sign off. The remaining cases can take effect without that step. Newsom acknowledged in his letter that the court must participate in a decision it did not choose and with which individual justices may disagree.

The prisoners include serial killers Randy Kraft and Charles Ng, and Richard Allen Davis, convicted of the 1993 murder of 12-year-old Polly Klaas. Male prisoners had already been moved from individual cells at San Quentin to other facilities. Female prisoners are held at the Central California Women's Facility. The commutations, once final, will remove the capital designation from their sentences.

Victims' rights groups criticised the decision. Anne Marie Schubert, chief executive of the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation and a former prosecutor, said her organisation would challenge the commutations in the state Supreme Court. Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman stated that his office would continue to evaluate death-eligible cases with the same standards.

Newsom's term ends in January. He is widely expected to consider a presidential run in 2028. The timing places the action in his final months in office. Incoming governor Xavier Becerra has indicated he will continue the moratorium on executions, so the practical effect of the commutations is reinforced by the next administration's stated position.

Nationwide, the number of people under death sentences would fall by nearly one-third if all the California commutations take effect. Only about 440 death sentences have been commuted across the United States since 1972. Newsom's order therefore accounts for a substantial share of all historical commutations in a single action.

The cost of maintaining capital cases has been a recurring issue in California. Appeals, housing and related proceedings consume resources even when no execution occurs. The commutations end the capital litigation for these 548 cases, though ordinary life-without-parole appeals continue. The governor stated that the system has not been applied fairly and has resulted in the conviction of innocent people.

The California Supreme Court will now decide the cases that require its approval. Those decisions will determine the final number of people removed from death row before Newsom leaves office. The remaining capital sentences, if any are rejected, would stay in place under the existing moratorium. The broader policy question of whether California will retain the death penalty as a legal option remains open for future governors and the legislature.