California Governor Gavin Newsom has announced a major change to the state’s death penalty system. He plans to change the sentences of 548 death row prisoners to life in prison without the possibility of parole. However, the plan still needs approval from the California Supreme Court in hundreds of cases.
Newsom announced his decision on Thursday in a public letter. He said the government should not have the power to take the lives of its citizens. He also argued that capital punishment conflicts with the values of California and weakens the state’s justice system.
“I take this action because I firmly believe that state-sanctioned killing is incompatible with California’s values,” Newsom said in his letter. He added that the practice also damages the foundations of the legal system.
The plan covers 548 people currently sentenced to death in California. According to figures released by the governor’s office, 529 are men and 19 are women. If the plan receives full approval, all of them would serve life sentences without any chance of release.
The process is not automatic. California’s constitution requires the state Supreme Court to approve clemency for people who have been convicted of a felony more than once. This rule affects 382 prisoners included in Newsom’s announcement.
That means roughly 70% of the planned sentence changes need approval from the state’s highest court. Newsom has already sent a formal letter asking the justices to approve those requests.
The Death Penalty Information Center said the move would be the largest mass clemency action in US history. If every request is approved, the number of people on death row across the country would fall by almost 30%.
The announcement comes as Newsom prepares to leave the governor’s office after eight years. The Democrat has opposed capital punishment for much of his political career. In 2019, he introduced a moratorium that stopped executions in California.
No prisoner has been executed in the state since 2006. California still has the largest death row in the Western Hemisphere, despite the long pause in executions.
Newsom described the latest decision as one of the most difficult choices he has made as governor. He said he had come to understand the limits of what government could fairly achieve through punishment.
He also recognized that the decision could cause pain for families of murder victims. Newsom said he alone would accept responsibility for the choice, just as he would be responsible for any execution carried out during his time in office.
California voters have supported keeping the death penalty. They voted against efforts to abolish it in ballot measures held in 2012 and 2016. Across the United States, views remain divided. Nearly half of the states have ended capital punishment, while others continue to carry out executions.
Several high-profile criminals remain on California’s death row. Richard Allen Davis is among them. He kidnapped and murdered 12-year-old Polly Klaas in 1993. Another is Randy Kraft, known as the Scorecard Killer, who kept a list of victims during the 1970s and 1980s.
Other well-known prisoners, including Scott Peterson and members of the Manson family, once received death sentences. Their sentences were later changed to life in prison.
Jess Nichol, the sister of Polly Klaas, said her position on capital punishment had changed over time. She once believed Davis deserved the death penalty. However, she now questions whether executions help victims’ families recover.
Nichol said the justice system often tells survivors that an execution will help them heal. She argued that this belief takes attention away from the support families actually need.
The American Civil Liberties Union welcomed Newsom’s decision. The organization has long argued that the death penalty is affected by racial bias and can lead to wrongful convictions.
ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero said the sentence changes were an important step toward ending what he described as an unfair and inhumane punishment. The group is also involved in a legal challenge against California’s death penalty law, claiming that it is racially discriminatory and unconstitutional.
However, victims’ groups and prosecutors strongly opposed the governor’s announcement. Patricia Wenskunas, founder of the Crime Survivors organization, said the decision was deeply upsetting. Her group has previously opposed efforts to abolish the death penalty.
Steve Herr also criticized the move. His son Sam Herr and his son’s friend Julie Kibuishi were murdered by Daniel Wozniak in 2010. Herr said he was disgusted by the governor’s decision. He believed that executing the killer would have brought a sense of closure to the family.
The California District Attorneys Association also condemned the plan. Its president, Jeannine M. Pacioni, said the decision ignored the work of juries and judges. She added that victims’ families had not been given a choice.
San Luis Obispo County District Attorney Dan Dow also criticized Newsom. He referred to the murders of Rachel Newhouse, Aundria Crawford and Kesha Gurke. Dow said the families had waited for decades for the state to carry out the sentences.
Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer also spoke against the decision. He argued that changing the sentences would be unfair to victims and their relatives.
Other Democratic leaders have taken similar steps. Oregon Governor Kate Brown changed death sentences in 2022, while Colorado Governor Jared Polis did so in 2020. In 2024, former President Joe Biden granted clemency to 37 of the 40 people on federal death row.
Xavier Becerra, who is expected to take over as California governor in January, has said he will continue the state’s execution moratorium. The final outcome of Newsom’s plan now rests partly with the California Supreme Court, which must review hundreds of the proposed commutations.
