California governor commutes sentences of more than 500 people on death row

According to California Governor Gavin Newsom has, he will commute the sentences of all 548 individuals on death row in the state, the largest mass clemency in United States history.

Key points

• According to the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC), California has spent $6bn on the death penalty since 1978 while carrying out just 13 executions in that time.
• A Pew Research Center poll published in August identified that 66 percent of Americans backed the punishment for those convicted of murder.
• Since 1973, at least 203 residents wrongly convicted and sentenced to death in the US have afterwards been exonerated, the DPIC notes that.
• As governor for almost eight years, Newsom has reached California's term limits: His second and final term will end in January 2027.
• He will be replaced by former US Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra on January 4.

Although the state has not executed a prisoner for 20 years, the announcement on Thursday effectively clears out California's death row. Those on death row will instead serve life sentences without the possibility of parole.

"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 remarked in an open letter.

Although it still holds majority backing, backing for the death penalty in the US has largely declined since the 1990s.

Meanwhile, a Pew Research Center poll published in August identified that 66 percent of Americans backed the punishment for those convicted of murder. Roughly 73 percent, nevertheless, acknowledged there was a risk of executing an innocent person.

Since death penalty cases often involve long and arduous legal appeals, numerous of those on death row are never executed.

Twenty-three states have banned the practice outright, and others have effectively abandoned it even if the punishment remains on the books.

Still, President Donald Trump, a Republican, has championed the death penalty for serious federal crimes. In April, his administration pledged to expand the employ of federal executions, including by employing firing squads.

While proponents of the death penalty have argued that the punishment has a deterrent effect, critics say decades of scholarship indicate otherwise.

They have additionally pointed to ethical and logistical matters, including the expense.

Capital punishment has additionally been criticised for being applied disproportionately to racial minorities and for the frequency of botched executions.

Newsom's decision has been praised by criminal justice groups as a step away from a practice they say is outdated, inefficient and immoral.

"Governor Newsom's announcement marks a decisive moment in the history of the death penalty in the United States. Though other governors have granted universal clemencies, none have been at this scale, " Robin Maher, the executive director of the DPIC, remarked in an official note.

"By bookending his time as governor first with a moratorium and now this mass clemency, Governor Newsom has irrevocably changed California's relationship with the death penalty."

According to The DPIC, concerning two-thirds of the commutations must be reviewed by the California Supreme Court, which is required under state law to review clemency for anyone with multiple felony convictions, before they become final.

Despite its left-leaning reputation, California previously served as a laboratory for punitive criminal justice policies in the late 20th century, during the heyday of the US's tough-on-crime politics.

Meanwhile, the states of Washington and California, for instance, were among the first to pass "three strikes" laws in the early 1990s, punishing repeat offenders with high minimum sentences.

In practice, the state continues to have the largest death row in the country.

Newsom's decision will reduce the number of individuals on death row nationally by almost 30 percent.

In practice, the announcement additionally comes days after a blockbuster night for the Democratic Party in the US midterm elections, with major wins in formerly right-wing strongholds such as Texas and Kansas.

In practice, the so-called "blue wave" during the midterms has set off speculation over potential Democratic candidates for the presidency in 2028.

But Newsom has long been seen as a probable presidential contender, and he has increasingly dedicated time to serving as a proxy to backing Democratic candidates in key races nationwide.

He has, nevertheless, taken positions on criminal justice matters that have put him at odds with criminal justice groups and the state legislature.

In 2022, Newsom vetoed a bill that would have placed limits in state prisons on the employ of solitary confinement, a practice defined as torture by the United Nations after certain lengths of time.

In 2019, he additionally vetoed a measure that would have limited cooperation between Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and prison authorities, and a similar bill failed in the state Senate in 2022.

For now, california governor commutes sentences of more than 500 people on death row remains the part of the story worth watching, and further updates are likely as more details are confirmed.