Joe Biden commuted the death penalties of 37 out of 40 federal death row inmates just weeks before he steps down as the President of the United States. He has converted the sentences of these federal death row inmates to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
These death row inmates included people who were convicted in the execution of police, military officers, federal prisoners and guards, and also convicts who were a part of deadly robberies and drug deals. The three inmates who continue to remain on federal death row are Dylann Roof, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, and Robert Bowers.
Joe Biden’s move received mixed reactions from the people of the United States. He faced backlash from Republicans and was accused of siding with criminals over law-abiding citizens of America. Tom Cotton, the Senator from Arkansas said, “When given the choice between law-abiding Americans or criminals, Joe Biden and the Democrats choose criminals every time.”
Reacting to Joe Biden’s federal death row commutation, Trump Communications Director Steven Cheung said, “These are among the worst killers in the world and this abhorrent decision by Joe Biden is a slap in the face to the victims, their families, and their loved ones.”. Reiterating Trump’s plans to expand federal death sentences, Cheung said, “President Trump stands for the rule of law, which will return when he is back in the White House.”
Justice Undermined: Biden’s Immoral Commutation of Death Row Sentences (man who ruthlessly burned 4 children Alive will never face Justice (one pictured below)!!!!l
Ladies and gentlemen, we face a grave moral crisis with President Joe Biden’s decision to commute the sentences of… pic.twitter.com/1yuNTkC4Qm
— Christopher Calvin Reid (@ReidFirm) December 23, 2024
Joe Biden’s commutation move comes as a major blow to Donald Trump’s plans to expand federal executions and make more people eligible for capital punishment, including child rapists, migrants who kill US citizens and law enforcement officers, and those convicted of drug and human trafficking.
Trump has extensively spoken about resuming federal execution throughout his 2024 election campaign. “These are terrible, terrible, horrible people who are responsible for death, carnage, and crime all over the country,” Trump said of traffickers when he announced his 2024 candidacy. “We’re going to be asking everyone who sells drugs, gets caught, to receive the death penalty for their heinous acts,” he added. However, Trump has not disclosed how he plans to expand the death penalty.
Donald Trump was the first US president to have executed a federal death penalty towards the end of his first term as POTUS, thus breaking the 130-year-old precedent of pausing executions amid a presidential transition. During the end of Trump’s first term, 13 federal inmates were put to death despite COVID concerns in prisons.
As per US media reports, Donald Trump will have no right to reverse Joe Biden’s commutations. He is likely to face legal challenges if he plans to give a death sentence for crimes that do not involve murder. Any plans to expand the crimes eligible for the federal death penalty would require Congress to act and change the law.
There is little Trump can do to increase the number of federal death row inmates as these death penalty cases take years to process and are subject to lengthy appeals processes. There is a high chance that Trump would arrange for more executions at the state level to prove his pro-death penalty stance.
