By Enyichukwu Enemanna
US President Joe Biden on Monday commuted the death sentences of 37 out of the 40 federal inmates on death row, ahead of Donald Trump’s inauguration as President next month.
Trump, during his first term as president, oversaw a sweeping number of executions.
The three remaining inmates on federal death row include individuals convicted of terrorism or hate crimes: one of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombers, a gunman who murdered 11 Jewish worshippers in 2018, and a white supremacist who killed nine Black churchgoers in 2015.
Democrat Biden had imposed a moratorium on the federal death penalty but faced pressure to act before leaving the White House on January 20, amid signals from Republican Trump that he would resume executions.
Those whose death sentences were commuted to life imprisonment include nine people convicted of murdering fellow prisoners, four for murders committed during bank robberies, and one who killed a prison guard.
“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,” Biden said in a statement.
“But guided by my conscience and my experience… I am more convinced than ever that we must stop the use of the death penalty at the federal level. In good conscience, I cannot stand back and let a new administration resume executions that I halted.”
Trump, during his first term, ended a 17-year pause in federal executions in 2020. He then oversaw 13 lethal injections during his final six months in office, more than any US leader in 120 years.
Rights groups have applauded Biden for the reversal of the death row sentences.
Biden stressed that the commutations were granted only to those convicted of crimes “other than terrorism and hate-motivated mass murder.”
He campaigned for the White House as an opponent of the death penalty, and the Justice Department issued a moratorium on its use at the federal level after he became President.
The death penalty is typically carried out at the state level in the United States, but the federal government can also seek executions for a limited set of crimes, including terrorism and the killings of judicial officials.
The last federal execution, carried out by lethal injection in Terre Haute, Indiana, occurred on January 16, 2021, four days before Trump left office.
