President Joe Biden has reduced the death sentences of 37 out of 40 inmates on federal death row to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. The move has drawn immediate criticism from President-elect Donald Trump, who has pledged to bring back capital punishment when he assumes office next month.
“Joe Biden just commuted the Death Sentence on 37 of the worst killers in our Country,” Trump stated on Truth Social. “When you hear the acts of each, you won’t believe that he did this. Makes no sense. Relatives and friends are further devastated. They can’t believe this is happening.”
Following this unprecedented act of clemency, only three federal inmates remain on death row: Dylann Roof, Robert Bowers, and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, all found guilty of committing acts of terrorism or hate-inspired mass murder. Biden’s decision, announced a few weeks before his term ends, seems to be a move to prevent Trump from resuming federal executions when he takes office in January.
“In good conscience, I cannot stand back and let a new administration resume executions that I halted,” Biden declared during his announcement. “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.”
Trump reacted on Tuesday by pledging to aggressively enforce capital punishment once he is back in office. “As soon as I am inaugurated, I will direct the Justice Department to vigorously pursue the death penalty to protect American families and children from violent rapists, murderers, and monsters,” he posted. “We will be a Nation of Law and Order again!”
Victims’ families have reacted with varying responses. Heather Turner, the daughter of a woman who was killed during a 2017 bank robbery in South Carolina, criticized Biden’s decision on Facebook: “Joe Biden’s decision is a clear gross abuse of power. He, and his supporters, have blood on their hands.” Conversely, retired Ohio police officer Donnie Oliverio, whose partner was killed by one of the inmates receiving clemency, supported the move: “Putting to death the person who killed my police partner and best friend would have brought me no peace. The president has done what is right here, and what is consistent with the faith he and I share.”
Human rights groups have applauded Biden’s decision. “The death penalty is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment, and President Biden’s eleventh-hour decision before leaving office to commute these death sentences is a big moment for human rights,” remarked Paul O’Brien, Amnesty International USA’s Executive Director.
Trump’s spokesperson Steven Cheung denounced the commutations, referring to the death row inmates as “among the worst killers in the world” and labeling Biden’s “abhorrent decision” a “slap in the face to the victims, their families, and their loved ones.”
Biden’s decision to commute the sentences follows his recent grant of around 1,500 pardons and commutations to Americans convicted of nonviolent crimes, making it the largest single-day act of clemency in recent U.S. history. During his presidency, Trump oversaw 13 federal executions, the most in modern times, after restarting federal executions after a 17-year pause.
