U.S. President Joe Biden has commuted the sentences of 37 out of 40 federal death row inmates, reducing their sentences to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
This decision follows concerns raised by campaigners about the stance of President-elect Donald Trump, who supports the death penalty and resumed federal executions during his first term after a 17-year hiatus.
Biden addressed the move in a statement on Monday, saying, “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.”
He continued, “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. In good conscience, I cannot stand back and let a new administration resume executions that I halted.”
Among those whose sentences were commuted are Thomas Steven Sanders, convicted of kidnapping and murdering a 12-year-old girl in Louisiana; Len Davis, a former police officer sentenced to death for ordering the murder of a woman who filed a complaint against him; and Richard Allen Jackson, convicted of kidnapping, raping, and murdering a 22-year-old jogger in Asheville, North Carolina.
Biden, who pledged to end the death penalty during his presidential campaign, faced pressure from progressive lawmakers and criminal justice advocates to act before President-elect Trump takes office.
Trump has expressed plans to expand the death penalty in his second term, and during his first term, his administration carried out 13 federal executions, marking the highest number in recent history.
This is the largest commutation of death sentences by any U.S. president in the modern era.
