USA - Matthew Stepka (CA)

USA - California. Business Leader Calls for End to “Broken” Death Penalty System

August 11, 2025:

August 11, 2025 - California. Business Leader Calls for End to California’s “Broken” Death Penalty System

A prominent business executive and member of a larger coalition of over 500 global business leaders is calling on California Governor Gavin Newsom to commute all death sentences in California to life without parole. In a July 2025 op-ed in The Sacramento Bee, Matthew Stepka, a member of Business Leaders Against the Death Penalty, calls California’s death penalty system a failure of both justice and fiscal responsibility.

“As an executive and investor, I find it unthinkable that we continue to pour public resources into such a fundamentally broken system,” writes Mr. Stepka, managing partner of Machina Ventures. “If any company or product I evaluated had an error rate comparable to the death penalty — where for every eight people executed, one person has been exonerated — I would never invest.” Despite not executing anyone for nearly two decades, California has continued to invest hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to maintain use of the death penalty in the state. The Sacramento Bee found that death penalty prosecutions in just the last five years cost taxpayers more than $300 million, while the Conference of Chief Justices estimated that appointing attorneys for everyone who currently requires a lawyer one would cost taxpayers more than $600 million.

Mr. Stepka warns that using the death penalty damages California’s reputation as “the world’s fourth largest economy” by suggesting “a preference for arbitrary decision-making over evidence-based policy, reckless spending over fiscal prudence and state-sanctioned retribution over fairness and justice.” States with the death penalty consistently report higher murder rates than those without, contradicting deterrence claims, while the death penalty “diverts valuable taxpayer resources from priorities like education, mental healthcare, child abuse prevention and infrastructure.”

Mr. Stepka’s criticism reflects a broader trend among business leaders. The Responsible Business Initiative for Justice (RBIJ), through its Business Leaders Against the Death Penalty campaign, has united over 500 executives from around the globe against the death penalty — the first effort of its kind. According to one of RBIJ’s founding members, Sir Richard Branson, the death penalty “is marred by cruelty, waste ineffectiveness, discrimination and an unacceptable risk of error.” By speaking out, he says, “business leaders have an opportunity to help end this inhumane and flawed practice.” RBIJ works with companies on criminal legal reform initiatives including the death penalty, juvenile sentencing, and fair hiring practices.

While acknowledging Gov. Newson’s recent reforms, including dismantling San Quentin’s death row, Mr. Stepka warned that the governor’s executive moratorium can always be reversed by a future governor. In March 2025, Louisiana ended a 15-year pause on executions with the nitrogen gas execution of Jesse Hoffman. Mr. Stepka noted that if California was to resume executions, many of the nearly 600 people on death row would be at risk of imminent execution because their appeals have been exhausted. He urged Gov. Newsom to follow precedent set by other state executives who have issued large grants of clemency, noting that “life sentences work: they cost less than executions, keep communities safe and prevent the killing of people who were unfairly and wrongfully sentenced.” In June 2025, nearly 200 organizations also urged Gov. Newsom to grant clemency to the people on California’s death row.

https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/business-leader-calls-for-end-to-californias-broken-death-penalty-system