▲ Gavin Newsom
California Governor Gavin Newsom announced on the 5th local time that he plans to commute the sentences of all 548 death row inmates in the state to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
If Governor Newsom completes these commutations, it will be recorded as the largest mass commutation of death row inmates in U.S. history, reducing the total number of death row inmates across the United States by more than a quarter.
According to Axios, Governor Newsom explained the reason for his commutation decision in a letter to residents that day, stating, "Under our imperfect justice system, we cannot uphold the core values of justice and human dignity while carrying out the death penalty."
He stated, "While many California residents believe that those who commit brutal crimes deserve to die, as governor, I have concluded that the state government cannot morally execute them."
He added that the commutation measure "allows criminals to die forgotten by the world while ensuring victims can be forever remembered and honored," and noted, "This decision is one of the most difficult decisions of my career."
However, legal procedures remain before the commutation of all death row inmates can be implemented.
According to the California Constitution, commuting the sentences of death row inmates who have been convicted of felonies two or more times requires approval from the state Supreme Court.
According to the Associated Press, about 70 percent of the total 548 death row inmates, or 382 individuals, fall under this category.
Axios pointed out that this decision comes just months before the end of the term of Governor Newsom, whose name has been raised as a potential candidate for the 2028 presidential election.
Shortly after taking office in 2019, Governor Newsom also issued a moratorium on executions, suspending the executions of 737 death row inmates at the time.
Recently, controversy surrounding the death penalty has intensified across the United States after a lethal injection execution failed for female death row inmate Christa Pike in Tennessee, and U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth advocated for public executions.
Even before Governor Newsom, there have been cases where Democratic politicians took large-scale actions to commute the sentences of death row inmates.
Former North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper commuted the sentences of 15 death row inmates in 2024, and former U.S. President Joe Biden also commuted the sentences of 37 federal death row inmates that same year.
California has not carried out an execution since 2006, but the death penalty legally remains in place.
Ballot measures to abolish the death penalty were defeated in both 2012 and 2016.
(Photo: AP, Yonhap News)
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