SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California Gov. Gavin Newsom has moved to commute every death sentence in the state, a step a civil rights legal group says will affect roughly 550 people on what it describes as the largest death row in the Western Hemisphere.
The Equal Justice Society, a civil rights legal organization, praised the governor’s announcement in a statement Nov. 5 and credited advocacy by opponents of capital punishment for the decision.
EJS President Lisa Holder called the decision “a momentous victory for justice, humanity, and the estimated 550 individuals and families” affected. She also described the death penalty as an “antiquated, violent system of state torture.”
According to the group, the announcement is only the first step in a multistage process. The governor gave official notice of his intent to district attorneys and to victims’ family members on the day of the announcement, the group said.
After a 10-day waiting period, Newsom can commute about one-third of the sentences on his own authority, according to the organization. The remaining two-thirds require the concurrence of the California Supreme Court, and the governor submitted those cases to the court the same day, the group said.
Newsom imposed a moratorium on executions in 2019, and California has not carried out an execution since 2006.
Holder said in the statement that a coalition rally and direct engagement with the governor’s office had produced “real, tangible action.” She said commuting the sentences advances recommendations of the California Reparations Task Force, and that the organization will keep pressing until capital punishment is abolished.
The group credited Natasha Minsker and the California Anti-Death Penalty Coalition for their work on the campaign, which included a rally at the State Capitol in 2025 calling on the governor to “commute the row.”
This report is based on information from the Equal Justice Society.
Source: Equal Justice Society
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