On Nov. 5, California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) has commuted all death sentences to life without the possibility of parole. Soon after taking office in 2019, Gov. Newsom put a moratorium on all executions, and the state has not carried out an execution in 20 years. The more than 500 prisoners on California’s death row will not be executed.

States including Oregon and Illinois have already commuted all of their death sentences, and just before leaving office, President Biden commuted 37 of the 40 federal death sentences. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, 23 states and the District of Columbia have abolished the death penalty. Of the 27 states that allow the death sentence, five have blocked its use, including Tennessee where a prisoner survived a botched lethal injection on Sept. 30. Democrats have just taken the governorships in four death row states, raising the possibility of ending the death penalty there as well.