US President Joe Biden announced on Monday that he has commuted the death sentences of 37 out of 40 federal inmates, a decision made in anticipation of Donald Trump’s return, who had previously overseen a significant number of executions during his presidency.
With less than a month remaining in his term, Biden faced increasing pressure from advocates against the death penalty to convert the sentences of those on death row to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, a change that will now apply to the 37 individuals.
This action leaves only a small number of notorious offenders, who committed acts driven by hatred or terrorism, still subject to the federal death penalty, which has been on hold during Biden’s administration.
“These commutations align with the moratorium my Administration has established on federal executions, except in cases involving terrorism and hate-driven mass murder,” Biden stated.
“I am commuting the sentences of 37 of the 40 individuals on federal death row to life sentences without the possibility of parole,” he added.
The three inmates who will continue to face the federal death penalty include Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, involved in the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, and Dylann Roof, a self-identified white supremacist responsible for the 2015 shooting of nine Black churchgoers in Charleston, South Carolina.
Robert Bowers, who perpetrated the 2018 mass shooting that resulted in the deaths of 11 Jewish worshippers at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, will also remain on death row.
Among those whose sentences were commuted are nine individuals convicted of murdering fellow inmates, four for murders committed during bank robberies, and one who killed a prison guard.
“Let me be clear: I denounce these murderers, mourn for the victims of their heinous actions, and empathize with all the families who have endured unimaginable and irreparable loss,” Biden remarked.
However, guided by my moral compass and my experiences, I am now more convinced than ever that we must abolish the death penalty at the federal level, he remarked.
Trump’s expansion of the death penalty
Biden ran for the presidency as a critic of the death penalty, and following his inauguration, the Justice Department implemented a moratorium on its federal application.
During his campaign for reelection, Trump frequently advocated for broadening the scope of capital punishment to encompass migrants who commit homicides against American citizens, as well as those involved in drug and human trafficking.
Prior to Trump’s administration, there had been no federal executions in the United States since 2003, until he reinstated federal executions in July 2020.
He presided over 13 executions by lethal injection during the last six months of his presidency, marking the highest number executed by any U.S. leader in the past 120 years.
The final federal execution, conducted by lethal injection at a facility in Terre Haute, Indiana, occurred on January 16, 2021, just four days before Trump exited office.
The death penalty has been abolished in 23 of the 50 states in the U.S., while an additional six states—Arizona, California, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee—currently have moratoriums in effect.
As of 2024, there have been 25 executions in the United States, all occurring at the state level.
