California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that he is commuting all 548 death sentences in the state to life in prison without parole, calling state-sanctioned killing incompatible with California’s values.

Newsom, who imposed a moratorium on executions in 2019, described the decision as one of the most difficult of his career and acknowledged its impact on crime victims’ families.

The commutations cover 529 men and 19 women, and 382 cases require approval from the California Supreme Court because they involve people convicted of a felony more than once.

The move, issued at the end of Newsom’s term, has been described as the largest clearing of a U.S. death row in modern history.

Newsom said the decision reflects nearly three decades of opposition to executions; in 2019, he halted executions and later dismantled the death-row chamber at San Quentin, moving prisoners to other facilities with greater freedom of movement and access to programs.

Newsom has argued that capital punishment discriminates against people of colour and people with mental illness.

Although California has not carried out an execution since 2006, it retained the nation’s largest death-row population and is one of 27 states that still have the death penalty.

The ACLU praised the decision as a historic step toward ending capital punishment, which it describes as racist, error-prone and inhumane; it is also challenging California’s law in court as racially discriminatory and unconstitutional.

California voters rejected a 2016 ballot measure to repeal the death penalty.

Public support for the death penalty has declined, but some Democrats have avoided mass commutations amid concern that opponents will portray them as soft on crime.

Newsom has backed criminal-justice reforms, though advocates have criticized political decisions such as his veto of release for some high-profile prisoners who had been granted parole.

Other governors have also used commutations against capital punishment: an Illinois Republican commuted all 167 death sentences in 2003, and North Carolina’s Roy Cooper commuted 15 in 2024.