Pennsylvania Advocates Call California Death Row Commutations “Another Sign of the Demise of the Death Penalty”

November 6, 2026

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:

Andy Hoover, Atlantic Center for Capital Representation, andy@hoovercomms.com 717-256-1293

Kathleen Lucas, Pennsylvanians Against the Death Penalty, klucas@padp.org, 717-781-4566

Robert Dunham, Death Penalty Policy Project, r.dunham@phillipsblack.org, 215-813-1388 

HARRISBURG - Pennsylvania-based advocates responded today to California Governor Gavin Newsom’s announcement that he is commuting the death sentences of everyone on the state’s death row, calling it “another sign of the demise of the death penalty.”

On Thursday, Newsom announced that he will commute the death sentences of more than 500 people to sentences of life-without-parole. Approximately two-thirds of those commutations also require approval from the state Supreme Court. Since 1978, California has executed just 13 people and hasn’t had an execution since 2006.

There are currently 95 people on Pennsylvania’s death row, while the commonwealth has a moratorium on executions instituted in 2015 by then-Governor Tom Wolf and continued by Josh Shapiro. Shapiro has called on the General Assembly to repeal the death penalty.

Pennsylvania is also expected to have no new death sentences this year and hasn’t executed anyone since 1999.

“Executive clemency reflects principled leadership focused on evidence-based justice and effective public safety,” said Kathleen Lucas, executive director of Pennsylvanians Against the Death Penalty. “As in Pennsylvania, California’s death penalty is indefensible. It’s arbitrary, expensive, and leads to innocent people being sentenced to death. The experiences with capital punishment are the same in California, Pennsylvania, and around the country. The same problems exist everywhere with this system.”

“Capital punishment is a failed public policy. Governor Newsom recognizes it. Governor Shapiro recognizes it. And more and more Pennsylvanians are realizing that we can do without the death penalty,” said Frances Harvey, executive director of the Atlantic Center for Capital Representation. “We’ve seen over the course of decades that Pennsylvania’s failure to adequately fund public defense has led directly to death sentences.”

"Governor Newsom's historic action shows the type of moral leadership Americans expect and appreciate from their elected officials,” said Robert Dunham, director of the Death Penalty Policy Project. “Governor Shapiro's principled stance against the death penalty shows the same type of moral leadership. We are hopeful he will capitalize on the momentum from the California clemency and Tuesday's election to persuade the legislature to move forward on his call to end the death penalty in Pennsylvania." 

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