WASHINGTON — On Monday, President Joe Biden revealed that he is commuting the sentences of 37 out of 40 individuals currently on federal death row, replacing their sentences with life imprisonment mere weeks before the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump, who has expressed a strong preference for expanding the death penalty.
This decision will spare the lives of individuals convicted of serious crimes, including the murders of police officers, military personnel, and civilians on federal property, along with those implicated in fatal bank robberies and drug-related incidents. It also affects the convicted individuals responsible for the deaths of guards or inmates within federal institutions.
As a result of Biden’s action, only three federal inmates remain under the death penalty. These include Dylann Roof, who was sentenced for the racially motivated massacre of nine Black churchgoers at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015; Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the Boston Marathon bomber from 2013; and Robert Bowers, who killed 11 members of the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh during the 2018 antisemitic attack, the deadliest of its kind in U.S. history.
In a statement, Biden emphasized his commitment to reducing violent crime and fostering a fair justice system, declaring, “Today, I am commuting the sentences of 37 of the 40 individuals on federal death row to life sentences without the possibility of parole. These commutations align with the moratorium my administration has implemented on federal executions, except in cases involving terrorism and hate-driven mass murders.”
The Biden administration had previously announced a moratorium on federal executions in 2021 to assess the protocols in place, thereby halting executions during his presidency. However, Biden had earlier committed to an even broader stance against capital punishment, expressing intentions to end federal executions altogether without exceptions for cases of terrorism or hate crimes.
During his 2020 presidential campaign, Biden asserted his aim to pursue legislation that would abolish the death penalty at the federal level and incentivize states to follow suit. Yet, this intention was notably absent from his reelection platform before he withdrew from the race in July.
Biden acknowledged the gravity of the crimes committed by those affected by his decision, stating, “I condemn these murderers, mourn for the victims of their heinous acts, and empathize with the families enduring irreparable loss. However, through my experiences as a public defender and in other leadership roles, I have become increasingly convinced that we must abolish the use of the death penalty at the federal level.” He also took a subtle shot at Trump, expressing, “In good conscience, I cannot stand back and allow a new administration to resume executions that I have halted.”
Trump, set to take office on January 20, has frequently advocated for the expansion of the death penalty. In his campaign kickoff speech for 2024, he suggested that individuals caught selling drugs should face capital punishment. He has also promoted harsher penalties for drug and human traffickers, praising other countries’ severe approaches toward drug-related crime. During his previous administration, Trump oversaw 13 federal executions, the highest number in modern history, with several potentially contributing to the spread of COVID-19 at the federal death row facility in Indiana.
The executions were the first carried out federally since 2003, with the final three occurring after the November 2020 elections but before Trump left office the following January, marking the first instance of federal executions conducted by a lame-duck president since Grover Cleveland in 1889.
Biden faced mounting pressure from advocacy groups urging him to take action to hinder Trump’s potential escalation of capital punishment practices. This announcement came shortly after Biden commuted the sentences of approximately 1,500 people who had been released to home confinement due to the COVID-19 pandemic, along with 39 others convicted of nonviolent crimes—a significant act of clemency in recent history.
The president’s announcement also followed a controversial pardon granted to his son Hunter for federal gun and tax violations, raising eyebrows in Washington. Many speculated about Biden possibly considering preemptive pardons for allies who might face scrutiny under a second Trump administration.
Heightened speculation around Biden’s decision on federal death sentences arose after the White House disclosed plans for Biden’s final overseas trip of his presidency to Italy next month, where he will meet with Pope Francis, who recently urged prayers for death row inmates, hoping for their sentences to be commuted.
Martin Luther King III, who publicly encouraged Biden to address the issue of death sentences, remarked in a statement that the president has taken significant and lasting actions to confront the inequities tied to the death penalty’s racial origins.
Donnie Oliverio, a retired police officer from Ohio whose partner was killed by one of the individuals whose death sentence was commuted, expressed that executing the perpetrator would not have granted him peace. He remarked, “The president has done what is right,” aligning his views with their shared faith.