On November 5th, California Governor Gavin Newsom commuted the death sentences of all 548 death row inmates in the state, transferring them to life imprisonment.
He wrote in a letter: “We can now let these criminals age in prison without anyone noticing, and at the same time, we will always remember and mourn for the victims.”
Since the reinstitution of the death penalty for voters in 1978, only 13 prisoners in California have been executed. However, California has not executed any prisoners since 2006. Therefore, this decision to pardon death row inmates is largely symbolic. Nevertheless, experts say that this measure can save millions of dollars in litigation costs each year.
Nussent has only a few months left in his governorship, and there has been speculation that he might run for president in 2028. Javier Biceira, who is also a Democrat, is expected to succeed him as governor.
Nusin explained in his letter that he was exercising the amnesty power granted by the constitution, reducing these sentences to life imprisonment without parole.
"For nearly 30 years in public service, I gradually came to understand that the government can achieve just and fair results only within certain limits. Newson said this, "I made this decision because I believe a killing by state-sanctioned actions is not consistent with California's values and would undermine the foundation of our legal system and would also harm everyone."
California has always been the state with the highest number of death row inmates in the United States. In 2019, Newsen ordered a temporary halt to executions in this state.
Nussen described this as a difficult but “just action”. He stated that although many California residents believe that those who commit brutal crimes should be executed, he concluded that “the state cannot execute them morally.”
He said that, regardless of the criteria used, California's system for executing death sentences is ‘a failure’. It has not been applied fairly in the past, and will not be fair in the future. It has led to innocent people being wrongfully convicted.
He said that life imprisonment without parole is the most severe punishment that he can impose according to law, and which the state government can enforce in a humane manner.
He admitted that this amnesty measure would anger and hurt some California citizens. “It will weigh heavily on my heart forever.”
As governor, I bear the sole responsibility for this decision and its consequences, just as every execution carries the burden of accountability on my shoulders. He wrote.
'For this reason, I must follow my conscience and act in accordance with the constitutional authority, in order to promote the welfare of California.'
In California, the death penalty is mostly carried out through injection. In the past, male prisoners were housed at St. Quentin State Prison north of San Francisco, while female prisoners were housed at the California Women’s Correctional Center in the Central Valley.
United States states have independent authority for criminal prosecution and execution, with most of this power in the hands of state governors.
Columbia University professors of Law and Civil Liberties, Bernard Harcourt, said that even though there are still many supporters of the death penalty in the United States, it is not an example of a potential presidential candidate expressing support for abolishing the death penalty on the eve of the election.
According to California media outlet CalMatters, at least four out of seven judges on California's Supreme Court need to sign off on this commutation ruling.
Los Angeles County's Chief Prosecutor Nathan Hochman stated that although Nussin has the authority to grant reduced sentences, it is up to the state legislature or voters to abolish the death penalty.
California voters were asked twice through a public vote proposal on whether to abolish the death penalty, and both times they chose to retain the death penalty for the most serious crimes. This is according to Hokkman's statement.
In the United States, both federal governments and state authorities can order the execution of death sentences. At the federal level, President Trump, who has long supported the death penalty, said that it is an "essential tool for deterrence and punishment of those who commit heinous crimes against American citizens and carry deadly violence."
In his first term as governor in 2020, he ended nearly twenty years of suspension of capital punishment in the federal system, ordering the execution of 13 federal executions within six months.
During Biden's tenure, federal executions were suspended. However, on the first day of Trump's second term in 2025, he signed an executive order to resume federal executions.
According to data from the Nonprofit Death Penalty Information Center, 27 states in the United States still retain the death penalty, while 23 states and the District of Columbia have abolished the death penalty.
