clemency

California governor commutes sentences of more than 500 people on death row

California Governor Gavin Newsom has commuted the sentences of all 548 people on the state's death row, the largest mass clemency in US history. The condemned will now serve life without parole, a move Newsom framed as aligned with California's values and concerns about flaws in the legal system. The decision reduces the national death row population by nearly 30 percent and requires state Supreme Court review for about two-thirds of the cases.