President Biden used his clemency authority Monday to commute the sentences of 37 of the 40 men on federal death row to life without parole, in one of the most significant moves taken against capital punishment in recent presidential history.
Biden did not commute the sentences of three men who were involved in cases of terrorism or hate-fueled mass murder, including Robert Bowers, convicted for the 2018 mass shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue; Dylann Roof, convicted for the 2015 mass shooting at a Black church in Charleston, S.C.; and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, convicted of the 2013 bombing at the Boston Marathon.
In a statement, the president said the commutations are in line with the 2021 moratorium his administration imposed on federal executions.
"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 said. Citing his experience as a public defender and an elected official, Biden added, "I am more convinced than ever that we must stop the use of the death penalty at the federal level."
He also hinted that possible action by the incoming Trump administration was part of his motivation.
"In good conscience, I cannot stand back and let a new administration resume executions that I halted," Biden said.
Among those whose sentences were commuted are: former New Orleans police officer Len Davis, who was convicted for hiring a hitman to kill a woman who filed a complaint against him; Brandon Council, who was convicted of killing two women during a bank robbery and told agents that "demons" were controlling peoples' minds; and Billie Jerome Allen, who was convicted for his involvement in a bank robbery but waged a public campaign for his innocence (he spoke with NPR from his prison cell before Biden commuted his sentence).
Biden has said he opposes the death penalty but had taken little action until now
Advocates, religious leaders and former prison officials had been urging Biden to take this step with his pardon power, including Pope Francis, who weighed in from St. Peter's Square on Dec. 8.
Byran Stevenson, founder of the Equal Justice Initiative, which works against mass incarceration, called Biden's actions "an important turning point in ending America's tragic and error-prone use of the death penalty." In his statement Stevenson added, "I commend President Biden for recognizing that we don't have to kill people to show that killing is wrong, that we can and should reduce violence in our communities by refusing to sanction more violence and killing in our courts and prisons."
Biden had pledged during his 2020 presidential campaign to abolish the death penalty and said he would support legislation to eliminate the death penalty at the federal level, but the Biden administration took little action to address the issue in Congress. Legislation introduced by Democrats to end the death penalty went nowhere.
After President-elect Donald Trump won the election last month, advocates started re-emphasizing the issue because of Trump's record on federal executions. Trump had reinstated federal executions during his first term, in July 2019, after a 17-year pause. A total of 13 people were executed between then and the end of his term — a record number of federal executions for a single president.
Biden's commutations for those on death row are also much higher than those of his Democratic predecessors. Former President Barack Obama commuted two death sentences at the end of his time in office, while former President Bill Clinton commuted one.
Biden's actions come shortly after he pardoned 39 individuals who were convicted of nonviolent crimes, and commuted the sentences of nearly 1,500 others who were placed on home confinement during the COVID pandemic.
Monday's announcement also follows controversy over Biden's pardon of his own son, Hunter Biden, for gun and tax charges.
NPR's Lexie Schapitl contributed to this report.
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