Newsom moves to commute all California death sentences to life without parole

California Supreme Court must approve 382 of the 548 clemency grants

California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Thursday that he will change all death sentences in the state to life in prison without the possibility of parole, moving to grant clemency to the 548 people currently sentenced to death in California — 529 men and 19 women, according to numbers provided by his office.

The decision comes as Newsom prepares to leave office after eight years as governor. In 2019, he placed a moratorium on executions in the state, but hundreds of people remained on death row.

“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,” Newsom said in a letter.

The move does not take full effect on the governor’s order alone. The state constitution requires the California Supreme Court’s approval to grant clemency to anyone convicted of a felony more than once, which means the court would have to approve 382 of the 548 commutations, or roughly 70%, according to numbers provided by Newsom’s office.

Newsom said the decision was among the most difficult choices of his career because it will surface painful memories for crime victims’ families.

“As Governor, I alone bear responsibility for this decision and its impact, just as I alone would bear responsibility for each execution,” Newsom wrote.

California voters rejected a ballot measure in 2016 that would have repealed the death penalty in the state.

The American Civil Liberties Union, which has said the implementation of the death penalty reflects racial bias, applauded the announcement. “These commutations reflect what justice demands: an end to a racist, error-prone, and inhumane punishment that has burdened California for far too long,” ACLU executive director Anthony Romero said in a statement.

The ACLU is involved in an ongoing legal challenge to California’s death penalty statute, alleging that the law is racially discriminatory and unconstitutional.

Newsom has said in the past that it is wrong for the government to kill its citizens and that capital punishment in practice has discriminated against mentally ill people and people of color.