Newsom Empties California's Death Row, Commuting 500-Plus Sentences

Newsom signed the mass commutation Thursday as his time in office runs out. Every death sentence in California now becomes life without the possibility of parole, meaning no future administration can carry them out. The order covers more than 500 people.

It's the biggest single clearing of a US death row in modern history, according to The Guardian. California has long held the nation's largest condemned population, even though the state hasn't executed anyone since 2006.

Newsom hasn't been quiet about this fight. He froze executions with a moratorium in 2019, then dismantled the death chamber at San Quentin and moved condemned prisoners to other facilities with more freedom of movement and access to programs — for some, a jolt after decades in solitary cells.

The timing lands against a raw backdrop: the failed execution of Christa Pike in Tennessee triggered global outrage and fresh demands for a nationwide halt to capital punishment.

Precedent cuts across party lines. An Illinois Republican governor commuted all 167 of that state's death sentences in 2003 before leaving office, and North Carolina Democrat Roy Cooper commuted 15 on his final day in 2024.

Support for the death penalty keeps sliding nationwide, yet Democrats have often avoided mass commutations, wary of being branded soft on crime. Newsom, seen as a likely 2028 presidential contender, has backed criminal justice reform — while some advocates have accused him of bowing to political pressure, including vetoing parole for high-profile prisoners. California remains one of 27 states with the death penalty still on the books.