President Biden announced Monday that he is commuting the sentences of 37 of the 40 people on federal death row, converting their punishments to life imprisonment mere weeks before President-elect Trump, an outspoken proponent of expanding capital punishment, takes office. The move spares the lives of people convicted in killings, including the slayings of police and military officers, people on federal land, and those involved in deadly bank robberies or drug deals, as well as the killings of guards or prisoners in federal facilities, per the AP.
"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's statement said. But "I am more convinced than ever that we must stop the use of the death penalty at the federal level." He took a political jab at Trump, saying, "In good conscience, I cannot stand back and let a new administration resume executions that I halted."
The move, described by the Washington Post as unprecedented, means just three federal inmates are still facing execution. They are:
- Dylann Roof, who carried out the 2015 racist slayings of nine Black members of Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina.
- Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, convicted in the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing.
- Robert Bowers, who fatally shot 11 congregants at Pittsburgh's Tree of life Synagogue in 2018, the deadliest antisemitic attack in US history.
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