A U.S. Catholic organization working for the complete abolition of the death penalty has praised California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s decision, announced Thursday, Nov. 5, to commute the death sentences of all 548 inmates awaiting execution in the Golden State to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
In an open letter published Thursday, Newsom said he had decided to use his constitutional authority to commute sentences.
“I have come to the firm conviction that state-sanctioned killing is incompatible with California’s values,” he wrote. He also said that carrying out the death penalty “undermines the foundations of the legal system and human dignity.” He described life without the possibility of parole as the harshest punishment he can legally impose. “They will die in prison, but not at our hands,” he said.
The governor also stressed that, under the state constitution, some of the commutations will require review by the California Supreme Court.
California has not carried out any death sentences since Newsom imposed a moratorium on executions in 2019. The order at the time guaranteed a halt to executions for as long as he remained in office. The California governor’s new decision goes a step further, because it applies to the sentences themselves, not just to their execution.
Krisanne Vaillancourt Murphy, executive director of Catholic Mobilizing Network, called Newsom’s action “an incredibly uplifting and historic witness for life and human dignity.” According to Murphy, it is “the largest collective commutation in the history of the world.” The Catholic activist said the decision shows it is possible to base the justice system on mercy and rehabilitation instead of the death penalty and retribution.
She added that Newsom’s decision should not overshadow the suffering of the families and loved ones of murder victims.
“We hear the cry for justice (…) that serious harm rightly deserves, and we continue to hold them in our prayers,” she said.
Catholic Mobilizing Network has for years worked to commute death sentences and to abolish the death penalty entirely in the United States. Its position is consistent with the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which holds the death penalty to be inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the human person.
Editor: JŁ
