WASHINGTON — In a significant move, President Joe Biden announced on Monday that he is commuting the sentences of 37 out of the 40 individuals currently on federal death row, changing their sentences to life imprisonment. This decision comes just weeks ahead of President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration, a figure known for his strong advocacy for capital punishment expansion.
The commutation protects the lives of those convicted of serious crimes, including the murders of police and military personnel, as well as those linked to violent bank robberies, drug trafficking, and the killing of inmates or guards within federal prisons. Following this decision, only three federal inmates will remain facing execution: Dylann Roof, responsible for the 2015 racially motivated massacre of nine Black churchgoers in Charleston, South Carolina; Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the bomber of the 2013 Boston Marathon; and Robert Bowers, who killed 11 worshippers in the 2018 shooting at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life Synagogue, marking the deadliest antisemitic event in U.S. history.
Biden stated, “I have dedicated my career to reducing violent crime and ensuring a fair and effective justice system.” He elaborated that his administration’s moratorium on federal executions, which categorically excludes terrorism and hate-fueled mass murders, aligns with the decision made today to convert the death sentences to life imprisonment without parole.
Responses to Biden’s announcement were polarized. A spokesperson for Trump called the commutation “abhorrent,” asserting that these individuals are among the most dangerous criminals. Trump’s spokesman, Steven Cheung, emphasized that the decision is disrespectful to the victims, their families, and all affected by these acts of violence. He reiterated Trump’s commitment to restoring the rule of law once he regains the presidency.
One individual notably affected by the decision is Heather Turner, whose mother succumbed to injuries from a 2017 bank robbery in South Carolina. Turner expressed her outrage on social media, arguing that Biden ignored the suffering of crime victims and framed his decision as a severe overreach of power, claiming it has left families like hers with pointless trials in search of justice.
Conversely, some relatives of Roof’s victims agreed with Biden’s choice to let Roof remain on death row. Michael Graham, whose sister Cynthia Hurd was one of Roof’s victims, vocalized his belief that Roof exemplifies the kind of killer deserving of the death penalty, citing the racially charged nature of his crime.
In 2021, the Biden administration had already imposed a moratorium on federal executions to reevaluate the processes involved, thereby halting executions throughout Biden’s presidency. Biden had previously indicated a desire to eliminate the death penalty altogether at the federal level, vowing to work toward legislative measures that would encourage states to do the same.
During his campaign in 2020, Biden emphasized the need to abolish federal executions, although similar pledges were notably absent from his reelection platform before he suspended his campaign in July. In his statement, he expressed profound sorrow for the victims’ families while underscoring the urgency to eliminate the death penalty on federal grounds. He remarked, “In good conscience, I cannot stand back and let a new administration resume executions that I halted.”
Trump, who will take office on January 20, has consistently voiced his support for more executions and even suggested the death penalty for those involved in drug offenses. His first term saw a record number of federal executions—13 in total—more than any other president in recent history, including the first executions carried out by a lame-duck president in over a century.
With pressure mounting from advocates for criminal justice reform, Biden’s latest announcement is viewed as a strategic move to diminish Trump’s potential to reinstate widespread federal death penalties. This decision follows Biden’s recent commutation of around 1,500 individuals who were released to home confinement during the COVID-19 pandemic, marking a historic clemency action.
The American Conference of Catholic Bishops celebrated Biden’s decision as a significant advancement towards promoting human dignity, while Martin Luther King III praised the president for addressing the death penalty’s historical racial disparities. Furthermore, an attorney for Norris Holder, a man sentenced to death for a bank robbery murder, highlighted at a press conference how Holder’s case represents the systemic racial bias within capital punishment that contributed to Biden’s decision to commute such sentences.
