Newsom Commutes All 548 California Death Sentences, Largest Mass Clemency in U.S. History

California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday commuted the death sentences of all 548 people on the state's death row to life without the possibility of parole, clearing the nation's largest condemned population in a single stroke. The prisoners made up more than a quarter of all condemned inmates in the United States, CalMatters reported. The Death Penalty Information Center calls it the largest act of mass clemency in American history.

Newsom announced the decision in a letter "to all Californians." He wrote that "state-sanctioned killing is incompatible with California's values." He said he had considered commuting only some sentences but rejected the idea because it would create "two classes of murder victims." Of the offenders, he wrote: "These offenders will die in prison but not by our hand." His office said the group includes 529 men and 19 women, according to coverage of the announcement.

The step follows years of groundwork. Shortly after taking office in 2019, Newsom imposed a moratorium on executions and dismantled the execution chamber at San Quentin. That came three years after California voters rejected a ballot measure to abolish capital punishment and approved another to speed up executions. California has not carried out an execution since 2006, when Clarence Ray Allen died by lethal injection. Since 2024, male death row prisoners have been moved out of San Quentin and spread among 24 other prisons, and 20 women were transferred to the Central California Women's Facility.

Victims' advocates reacted angrily. Topo Padilla, president of Crime Victims United, said no one should undo a sentence approved by a jury and a judge because of "personal beliefs or feelings." Anne Marie Schubert, the former Sacramento County district attorney who now leads the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation, pledged to challenge the commutations in the California Supreme Court and said victims' families were not notified. Marc Klaas, whose daughter Polly was kidnapped and murdered in 1993, said the move "upset me terribly." Polly's sister, Jess Nichol, said execution does not help survivors heal.

The legal path is not simple. Most of the commutations require court approval. For prisoners convicted of multiple felonies, a group of nearly 400 people, four of the seven California Supreme Court justices must sign off. The commuted prisoners will also be left out of the new Board of Parole Hearings commutation and resentencing regulations. Among those affected are Richard Allen Davis, who killed Polly Klaas, Charles Ng, convicted of killing 11 people in the Sierra Nevada foothills in the 1980s, and Scott Peterson, convicted of murdering his wife Laci in Modesto.

Other governors have gone this route on a smaller scale. Colorado's Jared Polis commuted that state's death sentences in 2020, and Oregon's Kate Brown did so in 2022. President Joe Biden commuted 37 of 40 federal death sentences in 2024.

The politics are significant. Newsom's term ends at the close of the year, and he is weighing a run for president in 2028. The move could lift his standing among Democratic activists while giving critics on the center and right a new line of attack. His successor, Governor-elect Xavier Becerra, has committed to extending the execution moratorium when he takes office in January.