Outgoing United States President, Joe Biden, on Monday, commuted the sentences of 37 federal death row inmates, converting their punishments to life imprisonment without parole.
The historic move announced just weeks before Donald J. Trump’s anticipated return to the White House, preempted the former president’s plan to resume federal executions.
The commutations apply to individuals convicted of murder, with three notable exceptions – Robert D. Bowers, the gunman responsible for the 2018 Tree of Life Synagogue massacre in Pittsburgh; Dylann Roof, who killed nine Black worshippers in Charleston, S.C., in 2015, and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, one of the perpetrators of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing. The three men remained on federal death row due to the severity of their hate-motivated and terrorism-related crimes.
President Biden, who campaigned in 2020 on a promise to abolish the federal death penalty, justified his decision by emphasising his moral opposition to capital punishment.
“I am more convinced than ever that we must stop the use of the death penalty at the federal level,” Biden said in a statement. “In good conscience, I cannot stand back and let a new administration resume executions that I halted.”
Biden noted that his decision reflected his administration’s standard of sparing executions in cases outside of terrorism and hate-motivated mass murder.
“Make no mistake: I condemn these murderers, grieve for the victims of their despicable acts, and ache for all the families who have suffered unimaginable and irreparable loss,” he added.
The White House released statements of support from faith leaders, civil rights organisations, and victims’ families. Among them was Donnie Oliverio, a retired police officer whose partner, Bryan S. Hurst, was killed during a 2005 bank robbery by death row inmate Daryl Lawrence.
“Putting to death the person who killed my police partner and best friend would have brought me no peace,” said Oliverio. “The president has done what is right here, and what is consistent with the faith he and I share.”
Pope Francis also reportedly influenced Biden’s decision, as the two discussed the death penalty during a recent phone call. Earlier this month, the pope prayed for the commutation of federal death sentences, and Catholic bishops in the United States echoed the call.
The commutations came amid contrasting views on capital punishment between Biden and Trump. During his first term, Trump restarted federal executions after a nearly 20-year pause, overseeing the deaths of 13 inmates in the final six months of his administration. He promised to resume executions and expand the death penalty to include drug dealers, human traffickers, and child sex abusers.
Trump’s proposals reignited debates about the scope of federal capital punishment.
The commutations sparked a range of reactions. Civil rights groups and Democratic lawmakers have praised the decision as a step toward criminal justice reform, while critics argued it undermined justice for the victims of heinous crimes.
Representative Ayanna Pressley, a Democrat from Massachusetts, highlighted the political stakes of Biden’s use of clemency powers.
“The Democrats on more than one occasion have tried to make the case that we’re the adults in the room, but the American people don’t always think we’re the fighters in the room,” she said. “And President Biden has the power. Scared power is no power at all.”
Monday’s commutations marked one of Biden’s most significant acts of clemency, following a record-setting 1,500 commutations for individuals in home confinement during the pandemic. Earlier this year, Biden also issued blanket pardons for individuals convicted of federal marijuana possession and for veterans convicted of same-sex acts under military law.
Despite this progress, Democrats continued to push Biden to issue further clemency for those imprisoned under outdated drug laws and sentencing disparities.
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