(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden made a significant announcement on Monday, revealing that he has commuted the sentences of 37 out of 40 individuals currently on federal death row, transitioning their punishment to life imprisonment. This decision comes just weeks before President-elect Donald Trump, a vocal advocate for expanding capital punishment, is set to take office.
This action spares the lives of those convicted of serious crimes, including the murders of police and military personnel, killings on federal property, and those involved in violent bank robberies or drug trafficking. The list also includes individuals responsible for the deaths of guards or inmates within federal facilities.
As a result of Biden’s decision, only three federal inmates remain facing execution: Dylann Roof, who was convicted for the 2015 racially motivated massacre of nine Black churchgoers at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina; Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the 2013 Boston Marathon bomber; and Robert Bowers, who fatally shot 11 worshippers at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh in 2018, marking the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history.
“Throughout my career, I have focused on reducing violent crime and ensuring a fair justice system,” Biden stated in his announcement. “Today, I am commuting the sentences of 37 of the 40 individuals on federal death row to life without parole. These commutations align with the moratorium my administration has placed on federal executions, except in cases related to terrorism or hate-fueled mass murders.”
In 2021, the Biden Administration instituted a moratorium on federal capital punishment to review the protocols in place, effectively halting executions during his presidency. However, Biden had earlier indicated a desire to go further, expressing a commitment to abolishing federal executions entirely, without exceptions for terrorism or hate crimes.
During his 2020 presidential campaign, Biden’s website outlined his intention to “work towards passing legislation to eliminate the death penalty at the federal level and encourage states to follow this lead.”
However, similar commitments were absent from his reelection platform before he suspended his campaign in July.
“Let me be clear: I denounce these murderers, mourn for the victims of their horrific actions, and empathize with the families who have endured unimaginable loss,” Biden’s statement emphasized. “However, informed by my conscience and my experiences as a public defender, Senate Judiciary Committee chair, vice president, and now president, I am increasingly convinced that we must abolish the death penalty at the federal level.”
Biden also took a subtle jab at Trump, asserting, “In good conscience, I cannot allow a new administration to restart the executions I have put to a stop.”
Trump, who will assume office on January 20, has frequently advocated for an expansion of the death penalty. In his 2024 campaign announcement, he suggested that those “caught selling drugs” should face the death penalty for their heinous acts. He went on to promise executions for drug and human traffickers and even praised China’s stricter measures against drug dealers. During his first term, Trump was instrumental in pushing for the death penalty for drug offenders.
Trump’s presidency saw 13 federal executions, the highest number for any president in modern times, with some occurring swiftly enough to contribute to the spread of COVID-19 at the federal death row facility in Indiana.
These were the first federal executions since 2003, with the final three taking place after the 2020 Election Day but before Trump left office, marking the first time a lame-duck president carried out federal executions since Grover Cleveland in 1889.
Biden has faced mounting pressure from advocacy groups urging him to take action to prevent Trump from expanding the use of capital punishment against federal inmates. This latest announcement follows Biden’s recent commutation of approximately 1,500 individuals who were released from prison and placed on home confinement during the COVID-19 pandemic, along with 39 others convicted of nonviolent offenses—marking the largest single-day clemency act in modern history.
Additionally, this announcement comes on the heels of Biden’s controversial pardon of his son Hunter for federal gun and tax charges, which raised eyebrows in Washington. The pardon sparked discussions about whether Biden would consider broader preemptive pardons for administration officials and allies potentially at risk of being targeted by Trump’s future administration.
Speculation about Biden commuting federal death sentences increased last week after the White House announced his upcoming visit to Italy for his final foreign trip of the presidency next month. Biden, a practicing Catholic, is set to meet with Pope Francis, who recently called for prayers for U.S. death row inmates in hopes of having their sentences commuted.
Martin Luther King III, who has publicly urged Biden to change the death sentences, praised the president’s actions in a statement released by the White House, stating that the president “has done what no previous president was willing to do: take meaningful and lasting action to not only acknowledge the death penalty’s racist roots but also to address its ongoing inequities.”
Donnie Oliverio, a retired Ohio police officer whose partner was killed by one of the individuals whose death sentence was commuted, expressed his views, stating that executing “the person who killed my police partner and best friend would have brought me no peace.”
“The president has made the right decision here,” Oliverio added, “and it aligns with the faith that both he and I share.”
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Weissert reported from West Palm Beach, Florida.
