Biden pardons 37 of 40 federal death sentences
US President Joe Biden has commuted the sentences of 37 of the 40 federal death row inmates, commuting their sentences to life in prison without parole.
Nine of them have been convicted of the murder of fellow prisoners, four of murders committed during bank robberies and one of the murder of a prison guard.
In a statement, Biden said he condemned murderers and their crimes, but added that he was “more convinced than ever that we must end the use of the death penalty at the federal level”.
Biden’s decision comes ahead of the return of President-elect Donald Trump in January, who resumed federal executions in July 2020 for the first time since 2003.
“Make no mistake: I condemn these killers, mourn for the victims of their despicable acts, and express my grief for all the families who have suffered unimaginable and irreparable loss,” Biden said.
Disgraced former New Orleans police officer Lane Davis, who ran a drug ring involving other officers and arranged the murder of a woman, is among those shown clemency.
The three men on death row include Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who helped carry out the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, and Dylann Roof, the white supremacist who shot and killed nine black churchgoers in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015. Had given.
Robert Bowers, who killed 11 Jewish worshipers during the 2018 mass shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, also remains on death row.
Biden has campaigned as an opponent of the death penalty, and after his presidency the Justice Department banned its use at the federal level.
During his first term in office, Trump oversaw 13 deaths by lethal injection During his last six months in power.
No federal inmate had been put to death in the US since 2003 until Trump resumed federal executions in July 2020.
During his re-election campaign, Trump indicated that he would expand the use of the death penalty to include human and drug traffickers, as well as immigrants who kill American citizens.
Biden referenced Trump’s intentions in his statement, saying he “cannot – in good conscience – step back and let a new administration resume the actions I had stopped”.
In US law, these pardon decisions cannot be reversed by the president’s successor.
Biden’s decision will have no impact on people sentenced to death in nearby state courts around 2,250 Inmates, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. More than 70 state executions have been carried out during Biden’s presidency.
The death penalty has been abolished in 23 out of 50 US states. Moratoriums are in effect in six other states, including Arizona, California, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Tennessee.
Earlier this month, Biden commuted the sentences of nearly 1,500 people and pardoned 39 more convicted of non-violent crimes.
He also pardoned his son Hunter Biden, who was facing sentencing in two criminal cases. He pleaded guilty to tax charges in early September, and in June was found guilty of being an illegal drug user along with gun possession – becoming the first child of a sitting president to be convicted of a crime.
The US Constitution mandates that a President has “extensive power to grant reprieves and pardons for crimes against the United States, except in cases of impeachment”.
