In a decision, President Joe Biden commuted the sentences of 37 federal inmates on death row, changing their sentences from death to life imprisonment without any chance of parole. Three such inmates are not considered under this decision, namely, those convicted of mass murder or terroristic acts, such as Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the Boston Marathon bomber, Dylann Roof, the Charleston church shooter, and Robert Bowers, who killed 11 people in a Pittsburgh synagogue in 2018.
As he announced the decision, Biden emphasized his moral obligation to act. “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. But guided by my conscience and my experience.. I think we’re not right now at a point in time where we should still be practicing the death penalty at the federal level,” the President stated.
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The decision results from months of pressure by activists who demanded Biden’s action on this matter in order to prevent any potential Trump comeback to the White House, given that the latter resumed federal executions during his rule. Such acts signaled the end of a two-decade-long hiatus of capital punishment in the United States by the federal government, wherein more people were executed in Trump’s administration than the combined total of the previous ten presidents’ administrations.
The most notable among the spared is Len Davis, formerly a policeman, who organized a murder for the cover-up of his crimes. Norris Holder was convicted of bank robbery resulting in the death of a security guard. These advocates also argue that most of these cases represent bygone eras of overzealous prosecutions with a racial disparity in sentencing.
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Madeline Cohen, an attorney for Holder said, “Most men today on federal death row were prosecuted at the height of a political frenzy and blindly overzealous tough-on-crime approach, which has proven to be deeply flawed. This decision reflects the lessons we have learned since that time.”
A Shift in policy and legacy
Biden’s action represented a dramatic shift from this early political career when he was a prime supporter of a crime bill in 1994, which expanded the federal death penalty to condense into 60 new offenses. The law was widely criticized for mass incarceration, particularly affecting black men and other people of color. Statistics state that over 40% of federal death row inmates are Black, with many of those holding sentences under those old provisions.
As president, Biden attempted to change direction, discussing issues surrounding wrongful convictions and systemic racial inequities. In tandem with the commutations, the moratorium on federal executions was established, thus promising an end to capital punishment at the federal level. These commutations abstractly illuminate his intent to shield future administrations from the resumption of executions for matters sentenced under lame policies.
According to this, Biden has used more clemency measures than his recent predecessors at a corresponding point in their presidencies. Earlier this month, he announced clemency for 1,500 individuals easily understood because it left clemency mostly to indigence and rehabilitation to public safety. He granted categorical pardons for simple possession of marijuana as well as to LGBTQ+ service members convicted of sexual orientation offenses.
Biden’s decision to pardon his son, Hunter Biden, concerning federal gun and tax convictions has also prompted political firestorms and made his clemency record more complicated.
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Biden’s commutation of 37 death sentences is a part of his administration’s ongoing efforts to reform criminal justices in the interests of less mass incarceration and more attention paid to racial equality. With the action, he aims to solidify his legacy as a president who fought for an end to capital punishment at the federal level, notwithstanding the ongoing strife of partisanship over its use.
