1. The Moratorium
California has had a moratorium on executions since March 13, 2019, when Governor Gavin Newsom suspended all executions while in office—a policy that remains in place. This action is documented in both CDCR public releases and Newsom’s executive orders.
2. Death-Sentenced Population
As of April 10, 2025, CDCR reports 589 people under a condemned sentence across its prisons. Of these, approximately 18 are women serving in general population at the Central California Women’s Facility (CCWF), and approximately 571 are men relocated from San Quentin. (These numbers come from the CDCR’s official condemned population tracking and are corroborated by the Habeas Corpus Resource Center.)
3. Closure of Death-Row Units
CDCR’s Condemned Inmate Transfer Program (CITP), launched early 2024, dismantled San Quentin’s and CCWF’s segregated death-row housing. By April 2025, only nine condemned men remained at San Quentin, pending final care transfers. All others had been distributed to general population units in prisons throughout the state. (These logistics are laid out in CDCR operational updates and verified by internal correctional data.)
4. Executions Since 1978
Since capital punishment resumed in California in 1978, the state has carried out 13 executions. The last was Clarence Ray Allen in 2006. (Reported in CDCR execution logs and documented in media coverage at the time.)
5. Exonerations
In July 2024, Larry Roberts was exonerated after 41 years on death row, making him the 200th person in the United States to be exonerated from death row. (His release was publicly announced by the Federal Defenders and covered in numerous national outlets, with court documents confirming the vacating of his conviction.)
6. Innocence Estimates
The National Academy of Sciences estimates that at least 4% of people on death row are innocent. Applied to California’s 589 inmates, that translates to at least 24 individuals likely wrongfully condemned. (This finding appears in multiple peer-reviewed studies and policy analyses.)
7. Racial Disparities
A 2005 study in the Santa Clara Law Review revealed that people convicted of killing white victims were three times more likely to receive a death sentence than those who killed Black victims, and four times more likely than those who killed Latino victims. (This racial disparity has been cited in numerous academic reviews and criminal justice reform discussions.)
8. Population Trends
Between early 2024 and early 2025, California’s death row population dropped from 654 to 589—the largest single-year drop since CDCR began system-wide tracking. This drop is attributed to deaths in custody, resentencings, and one exoneration. The last time the population was below 600 was in 2001, based on historical data maintained by CDCR and tracked by the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC).
9. Deaths on Death Row (2024)
Thirteen condemned individuals died in custody during 2024. These deaths included natural causes, suicide, and other factors. (CDCR’s annual mortality review breaks down the cause and manner of these deaths, with several still under review as of early 2025.)
10. Mortality Since 1978
According to the Death Penalty Information Center, since 1978:
- Total deaths among condemned inmates: 195
- Executions: 13
- Non-execution deaths: 182 (116 natural causes, 30 suicides, 36 other reasons) These figures align closely with CDCR historical tracking and annual reports.
11. New Death Sentences (2024)
In 2024, three new death sentences were imposed:
- Riverside County: 2
- San Bernardino County: 1 No other counties imposed new death sentences, based on tracking by legal observers and sentencing logs.
12. Cost and Fairness
Capital cases are more expensive at every stage: pre-trial, trial, and post-conviction. Each case involves two separate phases—one to determine guilt, the other to decide the sentence—and decades of appeals. All of it is paid for by taxpayers. A substantial number of death sentences are overturned; between 1973 and 2013, approximately one-third were vacated or reversed. Multiple state audits and reports, including by the Legislative Analyst’s Office and the California Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice, confirm the staggering cost and unreliability of the system.
In Summary…
California’s death penalty is inactive, expensive, racially biased, error-prone, and shrinking not by reform, but by default—through death, resentencing, and exoneration. The facts show a system that continues to cost billions, condemn the innocent, and fail to deliver justice equitably.
Acronyms Defined:
- CDCR = California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
- CCWF = Central California Women’s Facility
- CITP = Condemned Inmate Transfer Program
- DPIC = Death Penalty Information Center