California death row holds roughly 589 people under sentence of death as of April 2025, but the state has not executed anyone since January 2006. Capital sentences are still being handed down in California courtrooms, and every existing death sentence remains legally in force. What has stopped is the execution itself, blocked by an executive moratorium Governor Gavin Newsom signed in 2019. That moratorium runs only as long as Newsom’s term, which ends in January 2027.
The Moratorium That Stopped Executions
Executive Order N-09-19, signed in March 2019, granted a reprieve to every person sentenced to death in California and halted executions for the rest of Newsom’s time in office.1State of California. Executive Order N-09-19 The order also closed the execution chamber at San Quentin and withdrew the state’s lethal injection protocol.2Governor of California. Governor Gavin Newsom Orders a Halt to the Death Penalty in California
The moratorium does not vacate sentences or overturn convictions. Prosecutors can still seek death, juries can still impose it, and the roughly 589 people currently condemned remain condemned. The state simply cannot carry out an execution while the order is in place. The last person California executed was Clarence Ray Allen, on January 17, 2006.3California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Inmates Executed 1978 to Present
The moratorium was imposed despite the direction voters set in November 2016, when they approved Proposition 66 to speed up capital appeals and rejected Proposition 62, which would have repealed the death penalty.4Legislative Analyst’s Office. Proposition 66 – Death Penalty Procedures California law still authorizes execution by lethal injection or lethal gas, with lethal injection as the default if the condemned person makes no choice.5California Legislative Information. California Code PEN 3604 – Punishment of Death The statute is intact; the machinery to use it is not.
Who Is on California Death Row
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation counted 589 condemned individuals as of April 2025.6California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Condemned Inmate Transfer Program The population has been shrinking, mostly through resentencing that reduces death sentences to life without parole or shorter terms. At least 45 people had their death sentences reduced in 2024, and the total dropped below 600 for the first time in more than two decades.
Twenty of the condemned are women, all housed at the Central California Women’s Facility.6California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Condemned Inmate Transfer Program Black Californians make up about 33% of the condemned population while representing roughly 6% of the state’s general population.7California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Condemned Inmate Summary
How Someone Ends Up on Death Row
A death sentence in California requires a first-degree murder conviction plus a jury finding of at least one “special circumstance” that elevates the crime.8California Legislative Information. California Code PEN 190.2 – Penalty for First Degree Murder The statute lists more than 20 of them, including killing during a robbery or kidnapping, killing for financial gain, murdering multiple victims, and killing a police officer or firefighter in the line of duty.
Once the jury convicts on a special-circumstance murder, the trial enters a separate penalty phase. Jurors hear evidence about the defendant’s background, mental health, age at the time of the offense, criminal history, and other factors that might weigh for or against death.9California Legislative Information. California Code PEN 190.3 – Determination of Penalty The choice is between death and life without the possibility of parole, and a death verdict must be unanimous.
Where Condemned Inmates Live Now
For decades, condemned men were held in a segregated unit at San Quentin. That arrangement has been dismantled. Under Proposition 66 and Penal Code Section 3600, condemned inmates can be transferred to other state prisons when officials determine the security level is adequate.10California Legislative Information. California Code PEN 3600 – Executing Death Penalty San Quentin itself is being converted into the San Quentin Rehabilitation Center.11California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. San Quentin Rehabilitation Center
Transferred condemned inmates can work, participate in programming, and live in general population housing rather than in a cell for 23 hours a day. Proposition 66 requires that 70% of any money a condemned inmate receives go toward debts owed to victims.12Secretary of State of California. Proposition 66 Title and Summary and Analysis If an execution date is ever set, the inmate must be returned to the prison designated for execution.10California Legislative Information. California Code PEN 3600 – Executing Death Penalty Women under death sentence remain at the Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla, housed in the general population there.
Why the Appeals Take Decades
Every death sentence in California triggers a mandatory appeal to the California Supreme Court. It is filed automatically; the defendant does not have to request it.13California Legislative Information. California Code PEN 1239 – Appeal From Judgment The direct appeal reviews errors visible in the trial record, such as improper jury instructions, improperly admitted evidence, and prosecutorial misconduct. Capital trial records can run to tens of thousands of pages, and direct appeals alone often take a decade or more.
After or alongside the direct appeal, the condemned person can file a habeas corpus petition raising issues outside the trial record, including ineffective assistance of counsel, suppressed evidence, and newly discovered facts. Proposition 66 shifted the initial handling of these petitions from the California Supreme Court to the superior courts to reduce backlog.14Habeas Corpus Resource Center. What We Do If state courts deny relief, a federal habeas petition can follow in the U.S. District Court and potentially the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. No execution can occur while any of these proceedings remain pending.
Delay is also a staffing problem. The specialized bar qualified to handle capital appeals and habeas cases is small, and condemned inmates have historically waited years just to have counsel appointed. Proposition 66 tried to widen that pool and impose time limits, but the volume and complexity of capital litigation has kept the pipeline slow. Most people on California death row will spend decades in prison regardless of whether executions ever resume.
Reprieve, Commutation, and the January 2027 Question
Newsom’s executive order is a reprieve, which delays execution but does not permanently remove anyone from death row. Clemency in the form of a commutation is different: the governor can convert a death sentence to life without parole, and that change survives a change in administration. No mass commutation of California’s condemned population has occurred. The current protection is tied to who occupies the governor’s office.
Newsom’s second term ends in January 2027, and the executive order has no force beyond it. The next governor could reinstate the moratorium, let it lapse, or move to resume executions. Even a governor determined to restart executions would face practical obstacles. The lethal injection protocol was withdrawn, and adopting a new one requires formal rulemaking that invites litigation. The execution chamber at San Quentin was closed, and the facility is being converted to a rehabilitation center. The statutory authority to execute remains on the books; the operational capacity to do so does not.
What the System Costs
Since California reinstated capital punishment in 1978, the state has executed 13 people. Researchers have estimated the death penalty system has cost California taxpayers roughly $4 billion more than a system with life without parole as the maximum sentence. Capital cases require two defense attorneys instead of one, jury selection takes far longer because prospective jurors must be individually questioned about their views on the death penalty, and the trials run several times longer than comparable non-capital murder cases.
Housing has added to the bill. Condemned inmates held in specialized death row units cost significantly more to incarcerate than general population prisoners because of the heightened security and single-cell housing. Moving condemned inmates into the general population should reduce that portion of the cost, but the legal expenses dominate. Every appeal, every habeas petition, and every year a case remains open adds to a tab taxpayers cover whether an execution ever takes place or not.