The United States of America President Joe Biden has commuted the death sentences of 37 out of 40 Federal inmates to life imprisonment reducing the number of prisoners on death row to nearly 40 %.
Biden’s decision follows pressure from congressional Democrats, anti-capital punishment activists, and religious leaders including Pope Francis due to concerns over the incoming Trump administration’s stance on executions.
The Monday clemency action applies to all federal death row inmates except three convicted of terrorism or hate-motivated mass murder: Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, convicted of carrying out the 2013 Boston marathon bombing attack; Dylann Roof, who shot dead nine Black church members in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015; and Robert Bowers, who stormed a synagogue in the heart of Pittsburgh’s Jewish community and killed 11 worshippers in 2018.
“Today, I am commuting the sentences of 37 of the 40 individuals on federal death row to life sentences without the possibility of parole,” Biden announced in a statement released Monday.
According to the president, these commutations were consistent with the moratorium his administration has imposed on federal executions “in cases other than 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”
“But guided by my conscience and my experience as a public defender, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Vice President, and now President, I am more convinced than ever that we must stop the use of the death penalty at the federal level. In good conscience, I cannot stand back and let a new administration resume executions that I halted,” he added.
Biden’s act of clemency comes after he issued 1,500 commutations for those who have been in home confinement since the coronavirus pandemic, a record number for a single day.
According to the White House, Biden has issued more commutations at this point in his presidency than any of his recent predecessors at the same point in their first terms.
