Gov. Gavin Newsom has announced plans to commute the death sentences of all people on California’s death row to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, in a major move as he prepares to leave office.
“After nearly 30 years in public office, I have come to understand the limits of what government can justly accomplish,” he wrote in a letter addressed to “All Californians”.
He continued: “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. 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.”
