Newsom Commutes All 548 California Death Sentences
The Catholic Mobilizing Network called the action the largest commutation in history and a witness for life rooted in mercy, not retribution.
On November 5, 2026, California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced he would commute the death sentences of everyone on the state’s death row to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole as he prepares to leave office after nearly three decades in public life.
In a letter addressed to “All Californians,” Newsom wrote: “I take this action because I firmly believe that state-sanctioned killing is incompatible with California’s values, undermines the foundations of our legal system, and diminishes each of us.” He added: “I know we cannot execute people in our imperfect legal system and remain true to our core values, first among them justice and human decency.” Newsom identifies as Catholic.
Largest commutation, Catholic response
The Catholic Mobilizing Network, a Washington, D.C.-based organization that works to end the death penalty, put the number of people affected at 548 and described the step as “the largest commutation in world history.” In a statement the same day, executive director Krisanne Vaillancourt Murphy said: “Today’s historic decision by Gov. Gavin Newsom demonstrates how justice can be rooted in mercy and restoration instead of death and retribution.” She called it “an incredibly encouraging and historic witness for life.”
The network said it also “bear[s] witness to the incomparable suffering that the families and loved ones of murder victims endure” and continues to hold them in prayer. It named Governors Mike DeWine of Ohio, Laura Kelly of Kansas, and Kay Ivey of Alabama as leaders it prays will follow a similar path—an expression of hope, not a statement of action by those governors.
The Church’s teaching, as developed in the Catechism, holds that the death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person, and the Church works with determination for its abolition worldwide. Newsom’s move aligns California practice with that call while leaving those convicted under permanent incarceration without parole.
The full legal effect depends on the completion of the executive acts for each case. The decision closes a chapter on capital punishment in the nation’s most populous state and places mercy and permanent imprisonment, rather than execution, at the center of California’s response to the gravest crimes.