US President Joe Biden on Monday commuted the death sentences of 37 condemned prisoners. He did so less than a month before Donald Trump’s return to the White House. The AFP agency recalls that the number of executions by lethal injection increased during the first term of office of the Republican president, reports TASR.
“These reduced sentences are in line with the moratoriumwhich my administration has put in place for federal executions in cases other than terrorism and hate-motivated mass murder,” Biden said. In a statement, he announced that for prisoners, the death penalty is commuted to life without the possibility of parole.
“Make no mistake: I condemn these murderers, I grieve for the victims of their heinous acts,” said the president. “Guided by my conscience and experience… I am, however, more than ever convinced that we must stop the death penalty at the federal level. I cannot in good conscience stand by and allow the new administration to resume the executions I stopped,” Biden added.
NBC reminds that the newly elected President Trump announced during his campaign that if he wins the election restores federal executions and expands the number of persons eligible for the death penalty.
Trump would like to be included in this category perpetrators of violence against children, migrants who have killed US citizens, and persons convicted of human and drug trafficking.
During Trump’s first term federal authorities executed 13 people. It was the largest number of executions since the administration of President Grover Cleveland in the 1890s.
