Gov. Gavin Newsom’s decision to commute the death sentences of 548 condemned inmates, just weeks before he leaves office, marks the latest chapter in California’s 70-year struggle over capital punishment — and raises fresh questions about whether the governor is honoring the promises he made to voters on his way to Sacramento.
Newsom’s unilateral move to effectively end executions in California stands in contrast to pledges he made as a candidate to respect the outcome of past ballot measures on the issue. The timing and scope of his action have reignited a debate that has simmered in California politics for generations.
National polling suggests Newsom’s stance may not align with broader public sentiment. A Pew Research Center survey released in August found that 68% of Americans believe the death penalty is justified for people convicted of murder — up six points from a similar poll conducted in 2021. Even so, the move could strengthen Newsom’s appeal among progressive Democrats should he pursue a run for president.
California’s relationship with capital punishment dates back to statehood in 1850, when executions were initially carried out by individual counties. The state assumed control of executions in 1893, and since then 514 people have been put to death, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
Organized opposition to the death penalty first gained traction in the 1950s with the case of Caryl Chessman, known as the “Red Light Bandit.” Convicted of a string of robberies and sexual assaults — though not murder — Chessman became a national symbol for anti-death-penalty advocates. His case eventually reached then-Gov. Pat Brown, a quiet opponent of capital punishment. In 1960, on the eve of Chessman’s scheduled execution, Brown’s 21-year-old son, Jerry, urged his father to grant a reprieve and push for legislative repeal. Brown agreed to seek a delay, but lawmakers refused to act, and Chessman was executed on May 2, 1960.
The 1970s brought a chaotic stretch of legal and political reversals, with the death penalty’s status shifting repeatedly depending on court rulings, legislative action and ballot initiatives. Voters settled the matter — at least temporarily — in 1978, approving a measure reinstating capital punishment. But Jerry Brown, by then governor, appointed a slate of state Supreme Court justices, led by Chief Justice Rose Bird, who routinely overturned death sentences. Voters responded in 1986 by removing Bird and two fellow justices from the bench.
Executions resumed in the 1990s, with 13 carried out since then. The most recent was the 2006 execution of triple murderer Clarence Ray Allen. Californians again weighed in at the ballot box in 2012 and 2016, rejecting measures to abolish the death penalty outright while approving a separate 2016 initiative intended to speed up the capital appeals process.
Newsom, who was elected lieutenant governor in 2010 with clear ambitions for higher office, struck a markedly different tone on the campaign trail than the one he has taken in office. In 2016, when asked by the Modesto Bee about his views on capital punishment, he said he would “be accountable to the will of the voters” if elected governor, adding, “I would not get my personal opinions in the way of the public’s right to make a determination of where they want to take us.”
Two years later, campaigning for governor in 2018, Newsom said he didn’t want to “get ahead of the will of the voters” and hoped instead to give Californians “a chance to reconsider” the issue themselves.
Yet shortly after taking office in 2019, Newsom imposed a moratorium on executions and sidestepped calls to put repeal directly before voters — arguably the more transparent path. Instead, he waited until the closing weeks of his second term to issue sweeping commutations, a move that in some cases still requires sign-off from the state Supreme Court.
“I take this action because I firmly believe that state-sanctioned killing is incompatible with California’s values, undermines the foundation of our legal system, and diminishes each of us,” Newsom wrote in an open letter announcing the commutations. “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 has defended the decision as consistent with respect for voters, arguing that the state constitution grants governors clemency power precisely for situations “when law as applied cannot be squared with justice.”
Critics counter that clemency authority was designed for case-by-case review of potential injustices, not a blanket reversal affecting hundreds of inmates at once. By acting broadly rather than individually, Newsom has effectively overridden the expressed will of California voters — and, for many victims’ families who endured years of waiting for justice, reopened painful wounds.
Whether the decision ultimately helps or hurts Newsom’s political future, particularly any presidential aspirations, remains to be seen.
Original source: CalMatters
