AILSA CHANG, HOST:
California Governor Gavin Newsom announced today that he is commuting all 548 death sentences on the books in his state. He is reducing all of the sentences to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The governor says California's death row is the largest in the Western hemisphere. Now, this action comes during a renewed national debate about capital punishment, following the recent botched execution attempt of a woman convicted of murder in Tennessee and also following the Trump administration's talk of livestreaming an execution at Fort Hood. That proposal was later rejected by President Trump. Scott Shafer of member station KQED is following the California governor's action today and joins us now. Hi, Scott.
SCOTT SHAFER, BYLINE: Hey, Ailsa.
CHANG: OK, so how did Governor Newsom explain his reasons for taking this step?
SHAFER: Well, the governor has been thinking about this for a long time now. He signaled on his podcast last month that he was framing it as a rocking chair test, meaning - how would he feel when he's old and sitting in a rocking chair reflecting on his life? He clearly sees opposition to the death penalty as, you know, kind of fundamental to his values and his faith. So it was pretty clear this was going to happen. They waited until just after the election to do it. He issued a statement today explaining why he did this, and among other things, he said the death penalty is a failure. You know, we haven't had an execution in California in 20 years. He also said it's immoral for the state to murder somebody and that it isn't applied fairly anyway.
CHANG: OK. Well, Newsom had already put death sentences on hold, right? So explain how this step today differs from that earlier step.
SHAFER: Yeah, he issued that moratorium on executions two months after he became governor - that was 2019 - dismantled the execution chamber at San Quentin prison, and they moved death row inmates from San Quentin to other maximum-security prisons across the state. So in some ways, this is symbolic since there aren't any executions on the horizon anyway. But by commuting these hundreds of sentences, it might give momentum to death penalty opponents in other states, you know, to lobby governors there to do something similar. And I should emphasize, Ailsa, that Newsom's actions today do not eliminate the death penalty in California. Only the voters can do that.
CHANG: Right. OK, so what's been the reaction so far there in California? Like, what have victims had to say about this?
SHAFER: Well, Newsom met with many crime victims before he issued the moratorium on executions back in 2019. Needless to say, those are very hard conversations, very raw. He met with many of those folks again over the past months as he considered this decision, and in his statement today, he sort of spoke to them saying, commuting these death sentences could resurface excruciating memories for them. He does not dismiss that in any way. He also said that he didn't want to pick and choose which death sentences to commute and which to let stand, saying that that could inadvertently create two classes of murder victims, which he did not want to do.
CHANG: OK. Well, you suggest that today's actions by Newsom were pretty anticipated. I mean, Newsom is often mentioned as a possible candidate for president in 2028. So talk about the political context here for this move.
SHAFER: Yeah, this was anticipated, for those of us paying attention to it. He waited until after Tuesday's election, so it wouldn't become an issue. And as to the politics, you know, there are certainly some advisers in Newsom's political orbit who urged him not to do it as he gets ready to run for president. But one of his advisers said that when he did this seven years ago, Newsom never asked to see any polls or look at anything related to the politics of it. And across the country, Gallup has been polling on this for decades, and support for the death penalty is at its lowest point in decades. So it's not really clear Newsom will pay a political price for this.
CHANG: That is Scott Shafer from member station KQED in San Francisco. Thank you, Scott.
SHAFER: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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