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California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) granted 18 commutations and 37 pardons last Friday. The Drop LWOP Coalition celebrates these commutations and urges Newsom to continue exercising this power, joining the growing momentum across the country to reform life without parole and extreme sentencing and provide avenues for these sentences to be reviewed.

In unified agreement with the sentiments of the Drop LWOP Coalition as a whole, Felony Murder Elimination Project releases the following statement concerning the People V. Hardin California Supreme Court decision.

This Friday, March 1st from 730am to 930am Pacific Time, the Interfaith Communities United for Justice & Peace Friday Forum features discussion about the Drop LWOP Coalition and SB 94. FMEP invites our advocates and supporters to attend and help us kick off our efforts to see SB 94 passed this year and become law in California.

Launched yesterday in Sacramento, #SmartSolutions is a new, intersectional campaign to counter efforts to double down on criminalization and mass incarceration and inevitably wasting state resources that could be better spent on housing, health care, schools, services for victims, and programs that reduce recidivism and promote accountability beyond incarceration.

The following feature, "Thousands of California inmates are sentenced to die in prison. Should some get to seek parole?" appeared last week in the Sacramento Bee, highlighting Senate Bill 94, a legislative priority for the Felony Murder Elimination project and the Drop LWOP coalition.

In a recent editorial published in the San Jose Mercury News, Retired Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge LaDoris Cordell expresses her support of Senate Bill 94, sponsored by State Senator Dave Cortese (D15). SB 94 would allow for judicial review of LWOP sentences.

FMEP Board Member and Founder Joanne Scheer will be honored by The Davis Vanguard at their 13th annual Vanguard Justice Awards Gala on October 19th in Sacramento, CA. The annual gala and fundraiser honors the work of individuals and groups on behalf of criminal justice reform, decarceration, anti-racism, and other social justice efforts.

"Convictions for Life Without Parole and Felony Murder Sentencing in California," a recent report created by the Special Circumstances Conviction Project in collaboration with the Felony Murder Elimination Project and the UCLA Center for the Study of Women|Streisand Center, seeks to understand how thousands of people in California have been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in the hope that this analysis allows increased insight into the group of people serving this sentence.

An editorial piece in support of SB94 is featured in KnockLA and written by Michele Scott, a fellow with CROP (Creating Restorative Opportunities and Programs) in Oakland CA. After serving 30 years of an LWOP sentence, Scott was released in 2021 due to a commutation from California Governor Gavin Newsom.