Biden has been facing increased pressure to fulfill a campaign promise before he leaves office.
WASHINGTON—President Joe Biden on Monday, December 23, 2024 announced that he is commuting the sentences of 37 prisoners on the federal government’s death row.
These individuals, all convicted of murder, will now serve life sentences without the possibility of parole.
The decision comes just weeks before the 46th president is set to leave office.
“I’ve dedicated my career to reducing violent crime and ensuring a fair and effective justice system,” Biden said in a statement.
The president defended his decision, stating that the United States must abolish the death sentence at the federal level, except in cases 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,” Biden said.
“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.”
Currently, there are 40 prisoners on federal death row. Three of these prisoners will remain subject to death sentence following today’s announcement. These individuals include Robert Bowers, who was convicted of killing 11 people in the 2018 mass shooting at Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh; Dylann Roof, who killed nine parishioners in the 2015 mass shooting at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C.; and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who was involved in the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing.
President-elect Donald Trump made it clear during his campaign that he would resume the death penalty and expand its use to include child rapists and illegal immigrants who kill U.S. citizens and law enforcement officers.
Biden’s commutations are final and cannot be overturned.
“In good conscience, I cannot stand back and let a new administration resume executions that I halted,” the president said in his statement.
In July 2020, President Trump’s Justice Department resumed federal executions after a 17-year pause. During the final six months of his first term, Trump oversaw the execution of 13 federal death row prisoners.
By Emel Akan
