How Gavin Newsom’s Historic Emptying of California’s Death Row Will Impact Black Inmates

California is taking a historic step away from capital punishment, and Black Americans have a particular reason to pay attention. For the hundreds of people sitting on the state’s death row, a death sentence may no longer mean execution. Gov. Gavin Newsom plans to commute the sentences of all 548 prisoners, a decision that puts the racial disparities in America’s death penalty system under renewed scrutiny.

Newsom’s announcement on Thursday (Nov. 5) marks a sweeping move that could effectively empty California’s death row, replacing the prisoners’ death sentences with life in prison without the possibility of parole. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, the action would be the largest mass commutation of death sentences in U.S. history.

But beyond the historic numbers is a bigger question: Who gets sentenced to die in America, and does race play a role?

For Black Americans, that question is hardly new. Black people have long been disproportionately represented among those facing capital punishment, despite making up a much smaller share of the overall population, according to the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.

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In California, the disparities are particularly troubling. Research examining the state’s capital punishment system has found that Black defendants are significantly more likely to receive death sentences than similarly situated defendants. Researchers have also found that cases involving white victims are more likely to result in death sentences.

In other words, who the victim is can matter just as much as who is accused.

Those findings have fueled decades of criticism from civil rights organizations, criminal justice advocates and families who argue that the death penalty is not administered equally.

In a letter to Californians, Gov. Newsom explained the historic move. “Many Californians feel that those who commit brutal crimes deserve to die. But as Governor, I have concluded the state cannot morally kill them.”

Newsom has questioned capital punishment for years. In 2019, he imposed a moratorium on executions, halting them during his governorship while leaving the death penalty legal in California, PBS reported. His latest announcement takes that position further.

“I do, however, pray that this action will finally separate the memories of the victims of these crimes from the fate of those who harmed them,” he continued. “We can now let these offenders die in obscurity while we forever remember and honor their victims.”

Still, the commutations do not mean the prisoners are walking free. All 548 people would remain incarcerated, serving life without the possibility of parole. And the process is not entirely automatic: 382 cases require approval from the California Supreme Court because those prisoners have additional felony convictions, TIME reported.

The announcement has predictably drawn criticism. Prosecutors, law enforcement representatives and some victims’ families argue that commuting the sentences disregards jury decisions and the pain experienced by people who lost loved ones to violent crime.

Those concerns are part of the broader debate over what justice should look like for victims, survivors and the people convicted of harming them. But the racial justice implications cannot be brushed aside. When Black defendants face disproportionate odds of receiving the harshest punishment available, questions about fairness and equal protection are unavoidable.