With less than a month left in office, President Joe Biden has commuted the sentences of 37 federal death row inmates, converting their death penalties to life sentences without the possibility of parole. The individuals, all convicted of murder, will now spend the rest of their lives behind bars.
Biden made exceptions for three men, each convicted of particularly heinous acts of hate and terrorism: Robert D. Bowers, who killed 11 people at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh in 2018; Dylann Roof, who murdered nine Black churchgoers in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015; and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who orchestrated the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, killing three and injuring dozens.
“I am more convinced than ever that we must stop the use of the death penalty at the federal level,” Biden said in a statement on Monday. “In good conscience, I cannot stand back and let a new administration resume executions that I halted.”
Biden also expressed his condolences to the victims: “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,” Mr. Biden said.
Of the 37 inmates granted clemency, 15 are white, 15 are Black, six are Latino, and one is of Asian descent. Their sentences were handed down in 16 states, including three that have abolished the death penalty. Nine of the inmates were convicted of killing other federal prisoners.
Incoming President Donald Trump, who will take office on January 20, has already indicated plans to expand the use of the death penalty, suggesting it for crimes like drug trafficking and child abuse. During his first term, Trump revived federal executions after a nearly 20-year hiatus, overseeing 13 executions in the final six months of his presidency.
In recent days, Biden also commuted 1,500 sentences for inmates released on supervised parole during the pandemic and pardoned thousands convicted of marijuana possession. However, his most controversial decision has been granting a full, unconditional pardon to his son, Hunter Biden.
Monday’s clemency decision came after a phone call between Biden and Pope Francis, in which the pontiff expressed concern about the fate of death row inmates to the president, a devout Catholic.
