California Governor Gavin Newsom said Thursday, November 5, that he is commuting the sentences of all 548 people on the state’s death row to life imprisonment, according to Al Jazeera. France 24 reported that the decision affects more than 500 prisoners. Al Jazeera described the move as the largest mass clemency in United States history.
Al Jazeera reported that the decision will reduce the number of people on death row nationally by nearly 30 percent. Those affected will serve life sentences without the possibility of parole, the outlet said.
The state has not executed a prisoner in 20 years, according to Al Jazeera. The Newsom death row commutation therefore does not involve any pending execution dates in the sources reviewed.
In an open letter, Newsom said that state-sanctioned killing is incompatible with California’s values, undermines the legal system, and diminishes each of us, Al Jazeera reported.
The announcement comes amid continuing national debate over capital punishment. A Pew Research Center poll released in August found that 66 percent of Americans supported the death penalty for those convicted of murder. About 73 percent of respondents acknowledged a risk that an innocent person could be executed, Pew found.
The Death Penalty Information Center says California has spent $6bn on the death penalty since 1978 while carrying out 13 executions. The same group reports that at least 203 wrongly convicted people in the US have been exonerated since 1973.
Under state law for people with multiple felony convictions, about two-thirds of the commutations must be reviewed by the California Supreme Court before they become final, according to Al Jazeera. The sources do not say whether the commutations will take effect immediately or how the review will be timed.
Newsom’s second and final term ends in January 2027. The Japan Times reported that he is widely seen as a likely presidential contender and is expected to run for the White House in 2028. Only a headline and a short excerpt from the Japan Times were available, so its wording beyond that excerpt is not confirmed.
Xavier Becerra is set to replace Newsom on January 4.
The sources do not include a response from the Trump administration, California prosecutors or victims’ groups. Al Jazeera provided most of the core details, and France 24’s account was available only as a video summary, so the key facts rest largely on one outlet’s reporting.
Sources
This article was written with AI assistance from the published reporting listed above. It is part of the World Brief daily news podcast.