Twenty Years Since Last Execution: California Remains Under Execution Moratorium as Advocates Push for Mass Clemency Grant

It’s Been 20 Years Since California’s Last Execution. Gavin Newsom Has the Chance to Make Bigger History.

On Jan. 17, 2006, California carried out what would turn out to be the last execution in the Golden State in the next two decades.

Twenty Years Since Last Execution: California Remains Under Execution Moratorium as Advocates Push for Mass Clemency Grant

On January 17, 2006, California exe­cut­ed Clarence Ray Allen — the last per­son put to death by the state. Two decades lat­er, California’s death row pop­u­la­tion has fall­en to 580 pris­on­ers, down from its peak near 750 in the mid-2010s. In the time since Mr. Allen’s exe­cu­tion, the death penal­ty in California has seen sus­tained scruti­ny as con­cerns with racial dis­crim­i­na­tion, inno­cence, and costs con­tin­ue to grow. Governor Gavi…