Biden commutes federal death row sentences ahead of trump presidency

President Joe Biden announced Monday that he has commuted the sentences of 37 federal death row inmates to life imprisonment without parole, leaving only three federal prisoners still facing execution as President-elect Donald Trump prepares to take office next month.

“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 said in a statement.

The three inmates excluded from commutation were involved in mass killings or acts of terrorism: Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, one of the Boston Marathon bombers; Dylann Roof, who killed nine people in a historically Black church in Charleston in 2015; and Robert Bowers, who fatally shot 11 worshippers at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life Synagogue in 2018.

“These commutations align with the moratorium my Administration has placed on federal executions, except in cases involving terrorism or hate-driven mass violence,” Biden stated, referencing the Justice Department’s pause on federal executions.

Most of the 37 individuals whose sentences were commuted were convicted of less notorious crimes, such as drug-related murders or killings of prison guards or inmates.

“I unequivocally condemn these heinous crimes, mourn the victims, and share the pain of their grieving families,” Biden said. “However, my conscience and experience shaped by my roles as a public defender, Senate Judiciary Committee chair, Vice President, and now President compels me to oppose the federal death penalty. I cannot allow a new administration to restart executions I have halted.”

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