Newsom Replaces Death Sentences With Life Terms for 561 Inmates
WHO:
CNN - California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the commutations; the decision affects 548 people on California’s death row.
ABC News - Newsom’s office reported that the 548 people include 529 men and 19 women.
CNN - ACLU Executive Director Anthony D. Romero praised the move, calling it “a historic step towards ending the death penalty in California and across the country.”
ABC News - The ACLU is involved in an ongoing legal challenge alleging California’s death penalty statute is racially discriminatory and unconstitutional.
NY Post - The article describes the affected population as 561 death-row inmates.
WHAT:
CNN - Newsom announced that he is commuting every California death sentence to life in prison without parole.
ABC News - Newsom is granting clemency to 548 people sentenced to death; 382 commutations, or roughly 70%, require California Supreme Court approval.
CBS News - The commutations do not repeal California’s death penalty or prevent prosecutors from seeking it in future cases.
CBS News - Newsom called life without parole the most severe punishment he can impose through clemency.
CBS News - California last carried out an execution in 2006.
ABC News - California voters rejected a death-penalty repeal measure in 2016. CBS News reports voters rejected Proposition 34 in 2012 and Proposition 62 in 2016, while narrowly approving Proposition 66 in 2016 to speed up death-penalty cases.
NBC News - Newsom commuted all California death sentences, saying “state-sanctioned killing is incompatible with” the values of America’s most populous state.
WHERE:
CNN - The commutations apply to California, which Newsom described as having the largest death row in the Western Hemisphere.
ABC News - Newsom made the announcement in Sacramento, California.
WHY:
CNN - Newsom said he had openly opposed state-sanctioned executions as an elected official for nearly three decades.
ABC News - Newsom said state-sanctioned killing is incompatible with California’s values, undermines the legal system, and “diminishes each of us.”
CBS News - Newsom said that although many Californians believe people who commit brutal crimes deserve to die, he concluded the state cannot morally kill them.
ABC News - Newsom said the decision could revive painful memories for crime victims’ families and that he alone bears responsibility for it.
HOW:
CBS News - Newsom said he would use his constitutional clemency authority; some cases require California Supreme Court review when a person was convicted of more than one felony.
ABC News - Newsom imposed a moratorium on executions in 2019; CBS News reports he did so shortly after taking office.
ABC News - Newsom was preparing to leave office after eight years.
(UPDATED November 5, 2026 21:05 UTC)
Governor Gavin Newsom is commuting California’s 548 death sentences to life without parole. Hundreds of commutations require state Supreme Court approval, and executions remain legally possible. Newsom says executions conflict with California’s values; the decision does not abolish capital punishment.