President Joe Biden is considering commuting all federal death-row sentences before the end of his presidency. The move appears to be designed to spite president-elect Donald Trump, who has promised to accelerate executions when he takes office.
According to The Wall Street Journal, “A broad coalition of religious and civil-rights groups has been pressing Biden to take the step, and the effort gained momentum earlier this month after Pope Francis, in his weekly address, prayed for the commutation of America’s condemned inmates.
“If their death sentences were commuted, the prisoners, all convicted of murder, would serve life without parole. Biden, a devout Catholic, spoke with Francis on Thursday and is scheduled to meet with him at the Vatican next month, the White House said.”
Among the 40 inmates on death row are Dzokhar Tsarnaev, the Boston Marathon bomber, Dylann Roof, who killed nine at a church in South Carolina, and mass shooter Robert Bowers.
Biden’s attorney-general Merrick Garland paused federal executions. Biden himself said on the campaign trail in 2020 that he wanted to end the death penalty, but he never did it.
President Biden has already commuted the sentences of 1,500 people and pardoned 39 others, in what has been described as the “biggest single-day act of clemency” by a president.
Last month, Biden commuted the sentence of a Chinese national for possession of vast amounts of child pornography.
Biden received support and harsh criticism for pardoning his son, Hunter, who was due to be sentenced on federal gun and tax-evasion charges. The President had previously said he would respect the verdicts against his son.