The president of the United States, Joe Biden, commuted on Monday the sentences of 37 of the 40 federal prisoners sentenced to deathturning them into life sentence without parole before he hands over power to President-elect Donald Trump on January 20. The decision has not been applied to cases of terrorism or hate-motivated mass killings.
Biden’s move will thwart the plan the Trump to resume a fast pace of executions. Unlike executive orders, government decisions clemency They cannot be overturned by a president’s successor, although the death penalty may be sought more aggressively in future cases.
Trump rebooted las executions federal after a pause of almost 20 years during his first termbetween 2017 and 2021. Bidenwho ran for president opposing the death penaltyput federal executions on hold when he took office in January 2021.
before leaving
In recent weeks, he has faced the pressure of the democrats of the Congresslos opponents of capital punishment and religious leaders such as Papa Francisco to commute federal death sentences before he leaves.
“Make no mistake: I condemn these murderers, I grieve for the victims of their despicable acts, and I grieve for all the families who have suffered unimaginable and irreparable losses,” Biden said in a statement.
“But guided by my conscience and my experience… I am more convinced than ever that we must end the use of the death penalty at the federal level,” he said. “I cannot in good conscience stand by and let a new Administration resume the executions that I stopped.” Earlier this month, Biden commuted the sentences of nearly 1,500 people and pardoned 39 others convicted of non-violent crimes.
Pardon his son
He also conceded after repeatedly insisting he would not do so. Hunter Biden had pleaded guilty to tax violations and was convicted of charges related to firearms.
Three of the best-known men on federal death row are left out of the pardon measure: Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, convicted for his participation in the attack at the finish line boston marathon in 2013; Dylann Roof, convicted of shooting at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina in 2015; and, Robert Bowers, convicted of the mass shooting at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue in 2018. All three have filed appeals and legal challenges to their sentences that must be resolved before an execution date can be set, a process that can take years.
The decision of Biden Nor does it affect the nearly 2,200 prisoners sentenced to death in state courts, since it has no authority over those executions.
Presidents usually order a round of pardons towards him final his mandate. The Office of the Pardon Attorney, part of the Department of Justice, has received nearly 12,000 clemency requests during Biden’s term, according to a tally kept by the pardon attorney. As of December 9, the president had granted 161 pardons and 135 commutations.
