In front of the sunlit steps of the California State Capitol, a powerful and determined appeal is rising on Thursday from over two hundred civil rights organizations, urging Governor Gavin Newsom to take a historic step: the commutation of all 574 death sentences still pending in the state.
The demonstrators argue that the capital punishment system in the Golden State is irreparably broken, rooted in structural racial bias, and incompatible with the constitutional principles of equality and justice. Approximately 69% of inmates on death row belong to ethnic minorities, one-third are African American, and nearly half were sentenced before the age of twenty-six.
The demands of the organizing groups are backed by years of research, legal complaints, and court rulings that expose the distortions of a system that disproportionately targets the most vulnerable. According to supporters of the demonstration, the governor now has the opportunity to reject the legacy of a selective and ruthless form of justice by granting universal clemency to those who have spent decades in an unbearable state of limbo.
Leading the campaign is the Clemency California coalition, joined by the American Civil Liberties Union and other humanitarian rights organizations such as the National Center for LGBTQ Rights and Disability Rights California. The public mobilization will be followed by a press conference and the formal delivery of a signed petition.
Advocates also emphasize that nearly two-thirds of California’s death row inmates have been incarcerated for more than twenty years, with dozens exceeding forty, while one-third suffer from severe mental illnesses or intellectual disabilities, which often went unacknowledged during trial. In many cases, these are individuals who should never have received a death sentence in the first place.
There is no shortage of precedents that raise serious doubts about the integrity of the judicial system. Over the years, the State Supreme Court has overturned several convictions due to procedural errors or defendants’ mental incompetence. In eight cases, inmates were released after being found to have been unjustly sentenced.
Across the United States, at least 4% of those sentenced to death may be innocent, according to a study from the National Academy of Sciences. In 2024, twenty-five executions were carried out across 9 states, while twenty-six new death sentences were handed down. California holds the national record for the number of inmates on death row, with a prison population exceeding ninety-four thousand.
In 2012, a proposal to abolish executions was narrowly defeated, with 53% voting against it. However, since then, the social and political climate has shifted, and many experts believe the time has come to turn the page. Governor Gavin Newsom had already declared a moratorium on executions in 2019, but now pressure is mounting for him to transform that symbolic act into a definitive decision.
