Criminal,
Civil Rights
Oct. 16, 2025
The case for commuting every death sentence in California
Rampant racial bias in California's capital prosecutions -- especially in Alameda County -- underscores why Gov. Newsom should fulfill his promise to commute all death sentences to life imprisonment and end a system tainted by discrimination.
Aimee Solway
Aimee Solway is a criminal defense attorney, and former attorney at the Alameda County District Attorney's Office and senior staff attorney at the California Appellate Project.
Recently, there have been calls for Gov. Gavin Newsom to commute all death sentences in California to life imprisonment. This would make good on a goal he set early in his governorship. My experience at the Alameda County District Attorney's Office makes clea...
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