Newsom Announces He Will Commute All 548 California Death Sentences; 382 Need Supreme Court Approval

California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Nov. 5 that he will commute all 548 death sentences in the state to life without the possibility of parole, a step that would dismantle the nation’s largest death row. But most of those cases are not yet legally complete: 382 of the commutations still require a recommendation from the California Supreme Court before they can take effect.

In an open letter dated Nov. 5, Newsom said, “I have decided to exercise my constitutional clemency authority to commute all California death sentences to life without the possibility of parole.” The action would change the punishment for those prisoners from death to permanent imprisonment. It would not overturn any conviction, release anyone from prison or make anyone eligible for parole.

The legal limitation is significant. Under Article V, Section 8 of the California Constitution, a governor cannot grant a pardon or commutation to a person “twice convicted of a felony” unless the California Supreme Court recommends it, with four justices concurring. Newsom’s office said 382 of the 548 condemned prisoners fall into that category, meaning those commutations cannot be finalized without the court’s recommendation.

For the remaining roughly 166 cases, the governor can act without that step from the court. Even in those cases, however, the process still requires formal commutation certificates and administrative implementation. The Habeas Corpus Resource Center, which represents many people sentenced to death in California, said when it issued guidance after the announcement that Newsom had announced the commutations but had not yet formally commuted any sentences at that point. The distinction matters: the Nov. 5 letter set the policy in motion, but the legal change still must be carried out case by case.

If fully implemented, the action would remove every death sentence in California. The state’s condemned population of 548 has been described by multiple sources, including the Death Penalty Information Center and the American Civil Liberties Union, as the largest death-row population in the Western Hemisphere. The Death Penalty Information Center has also described Newsom’s move as the largest mass commutation in U.S. history if completed.

Newsom framed the decision as a rejection of capital punishment itself. “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 wrote.

The move goes beyond the governor’s earlier 2019 moratorium on executions. That order halted executions in California, shut the execution chamber and withdrew the state’s lethal injection protocol, but it did not change any prisoner’s sentence. This time, Newsom is seeking to convert death judgments into life-without-parole sentences, making the punishment permanent even after he leaves office, if the process is completed.

That is a major shift in a state where the death penalty has remained on the books but has largely been dormant for years. California has not executed anyone since Jan. 17, 2006, and has carried out 13 executions since 1978. Advocates and prior reporting have also pointed to the roughly $6 billion spent on the state’s death penalty system as evidence of how costly that dormant system has been.

Robin Maher, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, said in a statement: “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.”

What happens next is a mix of court review and administrative work. The governor’s office is expected to send the list of affected prisoners whose cases require judicial approval to the California Supreme Court. If the court recommends commutation in those cases, the state can then issue certificates, update prison records and formally convert those sentences to life without the possibility of parole.

Until those steps are completed, Newsom’s announcement remains just that for many of the 548 prisoners: an announced commutation, not yet a finalized one.