Yes, the death penalty is still legal in California. Courts may impose a death sentence for certain first-degree murders involving legally defined special circumstances. However, California is not currently carrying out executions because a statewide moratorium has been in effect since March 2019.
This creates an unusual legal position: capital punishment remains part of California law, prosecutors may still seek it, and juries may still return death verdicts, but condemned prisoners cannot be executed while the present moratorium remains active.
When Can the Death Penalty Be Imposed?
The death penalty is not available for every murder conviction. California Penal Code Section 190.2 permits either death or life imprisonment without the possibility of parole when a person is convicted of first-degree murder and at least one special circumstance is proved.
Special circumstances can include murder committed for financial gain, multiple murders, murder of a peace officer, murder involving torture and certain killings committed during serious felonies such as robbery, kidnapping, rape or burglary.
Capital cases have separate guilt and penalty phases. First, the jury determines whether the defendant committed first-degree murder and whether a special circumstance is true. If the defendant becomes eligible for capital punishment, a separate penalty proceeding determines whether the sentence should be death or life without parole.
California law does not permit the death penalty for someone who was under 18 when the crime was committed.
Why Are Executions Not Taking Place?
Governor Gavin Newsom issued Executive Order N-09-19 on March 13, 2019. The order granted a reprieve to every person sentenced to death in California and created an executive moratorium on executions.
The order also withdrew California’s lethal-injection protocol and closed the execution chamber at San Quentin. It did not overturn convictions, cancel death sentences or release anyone from prison.
A moratorium is different from abolishing the death penalty. The governor temporarily stopped executions through his clemency and reprieve authority, but the underlying capital-punishment statutes remain in force.
A future governor could take a different position unless the death penalty is repealed through legislation, a voter-approved measure or a controlling court decision. Therefore, it is more accurate to say that executions are suspended rather than that capital punishment is illegal.
Can Courts Still Issue Death Sentences?
Yes. The 2019 order applies to executions, not to prosecutors, juries or courts deciding new cases.
District attorneys may continue seeking capital punishment in qualifying murder prosecutions. California’s current court rules still contain procedures for trials in which the death penalty may be imposed and for handling appeals and post-conviction challenges to death judgments.
Some prosecutors may choose life without parole instead, depending on the evidence, the wishes of victims’ families, office policies and other circumstances. That is a case-by-case prosecutorial decision, not a statewide prohibition.
When Was California’s Last Execution?
California’s last execution occurred on January 17, 2006, when Clarence Ray Allen was executed by lethal injection at San Quentin State Prison.
Later in 2006, legal challenges stopped another scheduled execution and raised constitutional concerns about the way the state administered lethal injections. California did not execute anyone between that time and the introduction of the 2019 moratorium.
Official state records show that California carried out 13 executions between the restoration of its modern death-penalty law and the 2019 moratorium.
How Many People Have Death Sentences?
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation reported 567 people serving condemned sentences as of July 13, 2026.
They are no longer necessarily housed together in a traditional death-row unit. California has been transferring condemned prisoners from segregated units at San Quentin and the Central California Women’s Facility into secure general-population housing at different state prisons.
These transfers do not convert their sentences to life imprisonment. They remain under death judgments unless a court overturns the conviction or sentence, or clemency changes the punishment.
Have California Voters Tried to Repeal It?
In 2016, California voters considered Proposition 62, which would have replaced the death penalty with life imprisonment without parole and converted existing death sentences. Voters rejected that proposal.
They approved Proposition 66, which was intended to change and accelerate procedures for reviewing death-penalty cases. California courts continue implementing parts of Proposition 66, including rules concerning legal representation in capital appeals and habeas corpus proceedings.
What About Federal Death-Penalty Cases?
California’s moratorium applies to executions carried out under California state law. It does not eliminate the federal government’s separate authority to prosecute eligible federal crimes and seek the federal death penalty, even when the alleged offence occurred inside California.
The Current Legal Position
The death penalty remains legal in California as of July 29, 2026. Eligible defendants may still be prosecuted and sentenced to death, and hundreds of people continue serving condemned sentences.
Nevertheless, executions are paused under the governor’s 2019 moratorium, the execution chamber has been closed, and California has not executed anyone since 2006. The clearest description is that the death penalty is legally available but not currently being carried out.