Published: 8 November 2026 | USA 247 Trend Post
California Governor Gavin Newsom has announced that he will commute the death sentences of all 548 people on the state's death row, converting their sentences to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The decision, announced on Thursday, 5 November 2026, is the largest mass clemency in American history, according to the Death Penalty Information Center — and it effectively empties the largest death row in the United States.
In an open letter to Californians, Newsom wrote: "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." He called the decision one of the most difficult of his career, while describing it as a "righteous action."
The short version: California has not executed anyone in 20 years, and Newsom placed a moratorium on executions when he took office in 2019. What he has done now goes much further — he is removing the death sentence from every person currently condemned in the state. The commutations are not all final yet: about two-thirds of them must be reviewed by the California Supreme Court before they take effect. But if the court approves them, California's death row will be gone.
Table of Contents
- 1. The Announcement: What Newsom Decided
- 2. Who Is Affected: 548 People, 529 Men and 19 Women
- 3. Why the Supreme Court Must Review Most Cases
- 4. California and the Death Penalty: A 20-Year Freeze
- 5. The Largest Mass Clemency in American History
- 6. Reactions: Praise, Anger and Legal Challenges
- 7. Why Now? Newsom's Final Weeks in Office
- 8. What Happens Next
- Frequently Asked Questions
1. The Announcement: What Newsom Decided
Newsom announced the decision on Thursday, 5 November, in a three-page open letter addressed to the people of California. He said he would issue the same commutation to every condemned person in the state: life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
The decision does not repeal California's death penalty. It applies only to the sentences already in place, and it does not overturn any convictions, grant any pardons, or make any prisoner eligible for release. Restitution orders for victims' families will also remain in place, according to an official fact sheet from the governor's office cited by Vatican News. The commutations change the punishment, not the guilty verdict.
Newsom has opposed the death penalty for decades. He imposed a moratorium on executions shortly after taking office in 2019, and he has said in his letter that his decision was informed by his long-held opposition to state-sanctioned executions. What is new is the scale: rather than leaving the moratorium in place and letting the sentences stand on paper, he is now actively removing them.
The announcement came two days after the midterm elections on Tuesday, 3 November, in which Democrats won control of both chambers of Congress. Critics have seized on the timing — a Central Valley congressman told The California Post, as reported by the New York Post, that "Gavin Newsom waited until two days after the election to overrule 548 death sentence[s]." Newsom's office has not responded to that criticism in the reporting so far.
2. Who Is Affected: 548 People, 529 Men and 19 Women
The 548 people on California's death row include 529 men and 19 women, according to figures provided by the governor's office. They represent more than a quarter of all the people sentenced to death in the United States — a measure of how large California's death row had become.
According to the Death Penalty Information Center, California's death row inmates are 33 percent Black, 32 percent white, 29 percent Latino, 4.2 percent Asian and 1.2 percent Native American. Newsom's letter argued that the death penalty is unjust and error-prone, a point his supporters have made for years: the system, they say, falls unevenly across race and class, and the risk of executing an innocent person can never be eliminated.
The people affected include some of the most notorious convicted murderers in California history. The New York Post reported that victims' advocates have highlighted cases including Lonnie Franklin, known as the "Grim Sleeper," who was convicted of killing nine women and one teenage girl in Los Angeles and is believed to have had as many as 25 victims. The breadth of the commutation — covering every condemned person, regardless of the crime — is precisely what has made it so controversial with victims' families.
Days before Newsom granted clemency, 50 murder victims' family members had signed a letter urging him to grant universal clemency, according to the National Catholic Reporter. Other victims' families, however, have reacted with fury, saying the decision disregards their suffering and the sentences handed down by juries.
3. Why the Supreme Court Must Review Most Cases
Not all 548 commutations will take effect immediately. Under Article V, Section 8 of the California Constitution, the governor cannot grant clemency to a person convicted of more than one felony without a recommendation from the state Supreme Court. That requirement applies to about two-thirds of the people on death row — 382 of the 548, according to figures from the governor's office.
Newsom has asked the California Supreme Court to return its recommendations by the end of 2026, so that he can issue the commutation certificates before his term ends in January 2027. The remaining 166 cases can be acted on without the court's approval.
The Supreme Court's role is a recommendation, not a veto in the ordinary sense — but the process matters, and it is not a formality. The court must review each of the 382 cases individually, and the timing is tight: Newsom leaves office in January, and the court's recommendations must arrive before he can complete the commutations. If the court moves slowly, some commutations could be left unfinished when his successor takes over.
Until the process is complete, the commutations are best understood as announced and in motion, rather than final. Newsom's office has said the commutations will take effect once the necessary legal steps are completed, and the governor's team is working against the clock.
4. California and the Death Penalty: A 20-Year Freeze
California has not carried out an execution since 2006. Newsom imposed a moratorium on executions on 13 March 2019, shortly after taking office, but hundreds of people remained on death row, with their sentences intact even though no executions were taking place.
The state's death penalty has been in legal and political limbo for years. Voters have twice been asked to repeal it and twice declined, most recently in 2016, when they instead voted to speed up the appeals process. But the machinery of executions never restarted: legal challenges, a shortage of lethal injection drugs, and political opposition combined to keep the death chamber empty.
Newsom's decision effectively ends that limbo. By commuting every sentence, he is doing what the voters declined to do by ballot — ending the death penalty in practice, for the people currently sentenced, even though the law itself remains on the books. A future governor could, in theory, resume executions for people sentenced in the future. But for the 548 people now on death row, the death penalty is over, once the legal process is complete.
5. The Largest Mass Clemency in American History
According to the Death Penalty Information Center, Newsom's action is the largest mass clemency in American history. It cancels close to 30 percent of all death sentences in the country. After the commutations, the Center reports that 1,388 people remain sentenced to death throughout the United States — the lowest number since 1984.
Newsom is not the first governor to empty a state's death row. More than half a dozen US governors have granted mass clemency in their states in recent years, according to the National Catholic Reporter. But none of those actions approached the scale of California's, because no other state had a death row as large.
The decision also matters internationally. California alone had one of the largest death row populations in the world, and its commutation removes a significant share of the people under sentence of death in the United States in a single stroke. For death penalty abolitionists, it is the most significant single action by a governor in American history. For supporters of capital punishment, it is an extraordinary use of executive power that overrides the decisions of juries, judges and voters.
6. Reactions: Praise, Anger and Legal Challenges
Reaction to the announcement has split sharply. Catholic advocates for abolishing the death penalty praised the decision. Krisanne Vaillancourt Murphy, the executive director of the Catholic Mobilizing Network, an organisation that advocates ending capital punishment, welcomed Newsom's announcement, the National Catholic Reporter reported. Newsom, who is Catholic, has spoken openly about his opposition to the death penalty, and his letter said the decision was informed by his long-held opposition to state-sanctioned executions.
Victims' advocates reacted very differently. The New York Post reported that furious advocates for victims blasted the decision and said they will challenge it in court. For families who waited years — in some cases decades — for a death sentence to be carried out, the commutation feels like a betrayal of the justice system and of the promises made to them at trial.
The political reaction has also been divided, and it has been coloured by Newsom's national profile. Newsom is widely expected to seek the Democratic nomination for president in 2028, and his supporters see the commutation as a statement of values that will play well in a Democratic primary. His critics see it as a political move by a governor in his final weeks in office, timed to avoid electoral consequences. Both readings are now part of the debate, and neither side is likely to concede the other's point.
7. Why Now? Newsom's Final Weeks in Office
Newsom's second and final term as governor ends in January 2027. He cannot run for a third term, and he is preparing to leave office after eight years. The commutation is, in that sense, a legacy decision — one of the last major acts of his governorship, and one that cannot easily be undone by his successor.
The timing is also significant because of the legal deadline. The California Supreme Court must return its recommendations by the end of 2026 for Newsom to issue the commutation certificates before he leaves office. Had he waited longer, the window would have closed. Had he acted earlier, the political cost might have been higher. The decision, in the end, came in the narrow window between the midterm elections and the end of his term.
Newsom has been governor since 2019, and his record on criminal justice has been one of the defining features of his time in office. The moratorium in 2019 was controversial at the time; the mass commutation goes further than any governor has gone before. Whatever happens next in his career, this decision will be part of how he is remembered.
8. What Happens Next
The immediate next step is the California Supreme Court. The court must review 382 cases and return its recommendations by the end of 2026. Newsom's office will then issue commutation certificates, and the 548 sentences will formally become life without parole.
Legal challenges are also likely. Victims' advocates have said they will challenge the decision in court, and the precise scope of the governor's clemency power — and the court's role in it — may be tested. Any challenge would need to move quickly, however, because the commutations are designed to be complete before Newsom leaves office.
Beyond California, the decision will feed into the national debate over the death penalty. With the number of people on death row in the United States now at its lowest since 1984, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, the trend is clear: fewer death sentences, fewer executions, and more states moving away from capital punishment. Newsom's action accelerates that trend in the most dramatic way possible — by removing nearly a third of the nation's death row in a single week.
Whether the decision helps or hurts Newsom's expected 2028 presidential ambitions is a question for the future. For now, the facts are these: 548 people who were sentenced to die will instead spend the rest of their lives in prison, and California's death row — the largest in the country — is effectively empty.
FAQs About the California Death Row Commutations
How many people did Newsom commute?
Governor Gavin Newsom announced on 5 November 2026 that he will commute the death sentences of all 548 people on California's death row, converting their sentences to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Is this the largest mass clemency in US history?
Yes. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, it is the largest mass clemency in American history, cancelling close to 30 percent of all death sentences in the country.
Do the commutations take effect immediately?
Not all of them. Under the California Constitution, 382 of the commutations — about two-thirds — require a recommendation from the California Supreme Court before they become final. Newsom has asked the court to return its recommendations by the end of 2026.
Does this abolish the death penalty in California?
No. The commutations apply only to the sentences already in place. California's death penalty law remains on the books, and people convicted of capital crimes in the future could still be sentenced to death.
Will any of the 548 people be released?
No. The commuted sentences are life in prison without the possibility of parole. Convictions are not overturned, no pardons are granted, and restitution orders remain in place.
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