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California's death row is, in effect, empty. Governor Gavin Newsom announced on Thursday that he is commuting the death sentences of all 548 people condemned to execution in the state, converting each sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, it is the largest mass commutation of death sentences in American history — and it arrives in the final weeks of Newsom's governorship, just two days after the midterm elections.
What Newsom actually did
In a three-page open letter addressed to "all Californians," Newsom wrote that he acted because he believes state-sanctioned killing "is incompatible with California's values, undermines the foundations of our legal system, and diminishes each of us." The commutations cover all 548 people currently under a death sentence in California — 529 men and 19 women — a group that represents more than a quarter of everyone sentenced to death in the United States. California has the largest death row population of any state, and its last execution took place about 20 years ago.
The move does not abolish the death penalty. Capital punishment remains on the books in California — voters chose to keep it in 2012 and again in 2016 — and prosecutors can still seek it in new cases. What changes is the fate of the people already sentenced: none of them will now face execution, and none will be eligible for parole.
Why most commutations are not final yet
Here is the catch that the headlines can miss. Under California's constitution, the state Supreme Court must review clemency granted to anyone convicted of more than one felony — and that covers roughly two-thirds of the people on death row, about 382 cases according to the governor's office. Four of the court's seven justices must approve those commutations before they take effect. The remaining cases — roughly one-third — take effect immediately.
No timeline has been announced for the court's review, and victims' advocates have already said they will challenge the decision in court. So while the governor's order is sweeping, hundreds of the commutations still depend on judges who have not yet ruled.
A decision eight years in the making
Newsom imposed a moratorium on executions in March 2019, about two months after taking office, and later dismantled the execution chamber at San Quentin State Prison. In his letter, he described the decision as one of the most difficult of his career, acknowledging the families of victims while insisting the state "cannot morally kill" the people on death row — a group that includes serial killers and child murderers whose crimes he did not minimise.
The numbers tell the story of a system already fading. California has executed only 13 people since 1976, and just five people received death sentences in 2025, down from 42 in 1999. Newsom is the latest of more than half a dozen governors to grant mass clemencies in recent years, but his is the largest yet — then-President Joe Biden commuted 37 of the 40 federal death row prisoners in 2024, a fraction of California's 548.
What happens next
Three things will decide how this story ends. First, the California Supreme Court's review of the roughly 382 multi-felony cases — the real test of whether the commutations survive. Second, the expected legal challenges from victims' groups and prosecutors. And third, the politics: Newsom's term ends in January, and he is widely expected to seek the Democratic presidential nomination in 2028, which means this decision will follow him into that campaign. For the 548 people on death row, the wait is not over — but for the first time in the state's history, the execution chamber is no longer their destination. For more on how the midterms reshaped American politics, see our report on how Wall Street reacted to the midterm results, and on another sweeping sentence handed down this week, Joshua Wong's 10-year sentence in Hong Kong.