California Governor Gavin Newsom to commute all 548 death sentences in the state: Here’s a list of other states that have done the same

California Governor Gavin Newsom has announced that he will commute the sentences and grant clemency to all 548 death row inmates in the state. The move will change these death sentences into life in prison. According to Reuters, Newsom in a three-page letter addressed to Californians stated that he believed capital punishment to be “morally wrong”.

The state last executed a death row prisoner in 2006 under then Governor Arnol Schwarzenegger. Newsom had earlier in 2019, declared a moratorium on executions just two months after he took office. The state has one of the highest populations of death row inmates, making this one of the largest mass commutation in the country. Since the death penalty was reinstated in the state in 1978, only 13 death row inmates have been executed.

According to the BBC, which cited CalMatters, the decision will now need to be approved by at least four of seven judges on California’s Supreme Court. The move comes after a contentious failed execution of Christa Pike in Tennessee and with three executions scheduled on November 5, in Indiana, Alabama and Florida, BBC reported.


Also read: Christa Pike’s lawyer reveals minute-by-minute account of her execution attempt in new court filings, says ‘staff warned her veins might be blowing’

Which other states have granted clemency to death row inmates?

Several other states have granted their death row inmates clemency in recent years. This also includes a commutation of federal death sentences of 37 out of 40 inmates by former President Joe Biden in December 2024. The move also changed their sentences to life in prison without parole. Biden had said in a statement that he was “more convinced than ever that we must stop the use of the death penalty at the federal level.”

In May 2026, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine commuted the death sentence of Gregory Lott to life imprisonment without parole. He also argued against the death penalty and urged the legislature to abolish it.

The outgoing North Carolina governor, Roy Cooper, in December 2024 commuted the death sentences of 15 men, changing them into life sentences. The men had all been convicted or murder, according to NPR. The move reduced the state’s death row population by nearly 11%. North Carolina then had 136 death row inmates.

According to The Atlantic, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro has continued a moratorium on death sentences and grants clemency to every death warrant that comes to him since 2023.

Former Oregon Governor Kate Brown commuted the death sentences of all 17 inmates on death row, changing it to life imprisonment in 2022. She also made the decision in the final days of her governorship. The state last executed a death penalty in 1997.

In 2020, Colorado became the 22nd state to repeal the death sentence as a form of punishment. The state’s then Governor Jared Polis commuted all remaining death sentences in the state. Only three men were sentenced to death at the time.