Biden pardons nearly all death row inmates

Most of the 40 federal death row inmates have had their sentences commuted by President Biden. They will now serve life without parole. Donald Trump will not be able to reverse the decision when he takes office in January, according to Air force.

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“I condemn these murderers, I grieve for the victims of their despicable acts, and I sympathize with all the families who have suffered unimaginable and irreparable losses,” Biden said. “But based on 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 end the federal death penalty.”

Donald Trump, by contrast, supports the death penalty. During his first term, he resumed federal executions after a nearly two-decade hiatus. All 13 executions were carried out in his final six months in office.

On the subject: Biden pardoned his son Hunter, despite promising not to interfere in the criminal case

The pardon applies to all but three federal inmates convicted of terrorism or hate-motivated mass killings: Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, convicted of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing; Dylann Roof, who shot and killed nine black churchgoers in Charleston in 2015; and Robert Bowers, who stormed a synagogue in the heart of Pittsburgh's Jewish community and killed 11 worshipers in 2018.

Biden's decision also will not affect the death row population in state courts, which numbers about 2250, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. States have carried out more than 70 executions during the Biden administration.

Presidents typically issue pardons at the end of their terms in office. Democrats have urged Biden to use the power as broadly as possible. In December, Biden pardoned 1500 people under house arrest in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, a record number in a single day. The president also pardoned thousands of people convicted of federal marijuana possession and people convicted of homosexual conduct while serving in the military. None of the people were in prison when they were pardoned.

As a senator, Biden championed the 1994 crime bill that expanded the federal death penalty by 60 new counts. The law is now widely seen as contributing to mass incarceration, particularly of black men, and many of those now on death row were sentenced under its provisions.

During his 2020 presidential campaign, however, Biden abandoned his support for the death penalty, promising to abolish it at the federal level due to concerns about unfair sentencing and racial inequities in the justice system. During his most recent campaign, Biden no longer spoke about ending the death penalty at the federal level. But after becoming president, he directed the Justice Department to impose a moratorium on federal executions.

Federal prosecutors were also urged not to seek the death penalty. But in January of this year, the Biden administration reversed course: The Justice Department announced that it would seek the death penalty for the first time in a federal case against Payton Gendron, who killed 2022 black people at a Buffalo supermarket in 10. Gendron is already serving a life sentence in state court.

In December, Biden also pardoned his son Hunter for federal gun and tax-related felonies, despite promising not to do so.

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Donald Trump supports the death penalty and during his 2024 presidential campaign called for its expansion, proposing to put to death "drug dealers, human traffickers" and people who rape children.

Since 1973, the United States has exonerated at least 200 people convicted and sentenced to death, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. Often, appealing to the president is the last resort that can save an inmate’s life. But the president’s clemency power is limited: Only those who have committed federal crimes can receive clemency, which is a small fraction of the people sentenced to death in the United States.

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Biden Pardons 39 Criminals, Reduces Sentences for 1500 Inmates

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