Newsom commutes all 548 California death sentences to life

Newsom Commutes Death Sentences for California Inmates Despite Voters’ Support for Capital Punishment

California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Thursday that he plans to commute the death sentences of all 548 inmates on California’s death row, with each sentence changed to life without parole.

The decision clashes with his 2018 campaign promise to respect California voters, even though he personally opposed capital punishment. In 2016, voters rejected abolishing the death penalty and approved a separate measure to speed executions. Voters had also rejected abolition in 2012. After taking office, Newsom imposed a moratorium anyway.

Newsom and the First Partner have transformed San Quentin’s former death row and execution chambers into a Scandinavian-inspired Learning Center. Newsom held a ribbon-cutting for the center in February. For critics, this is a governor overriding repeated voter decisions.

Newsom says his Catholic faith shapes his opposition to the death penalty. Critics respond that personal faith does not allow a governor to set aside the law or the repeated decisions of voters.

They also point to Newsom’s support for abortion access and to his memoir, released earlier this year, in which he described giving his mother painkillers before a doctor arrived to perform the then-illegal ‘Medical Assistance in Dying’ procedure, or euthanasia. The grief surrounding his mother’s illness can be acknowledged while still questioning whether Newsom is applying moral principles selectively.

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