Biden commutes sentences of 37 of 40 federal death row inmates

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Posted on 12/23/2024 6:07:05 AM PST by Red Badger

President Biden commutes the sentences of most federal death row inmates. Calling it a “common sense revolution,” President-elect Donald Trump delivers a rally-style speech about the transition and policy, less than a month from taking office. And two big-name auto companies officially announce plans to join forces. These stories and more highlight your Unbiased Updates for Monday, Dec. 23, 2024.

President Joe Biden granted clemency to almost all the inmates on federal death row Monday morning, Dec. 23. Now, the sentences of 37 of the 40 people facing death will be commuted to life without parole.

“I am more convinced than ever that we must stop the use of the death penalty at the federal level,” Biden said in a statement. “In good conscience, I cannot stand back and let a new administration resume executions that I halted.”

The three men not granted clemency are: Dylann Roof, who killed nine Black members of Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina in 2015; Robert Bowers, who fatally shot 11 congregants at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life Synagogue in 2018, the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history; and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, one of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombers.

In 2021, the Justice Department imposed a moratorium on executions so it could review policies and procedures. No federal inmate has been executed during the Biden administration, though this year the DOJ said it would seek the death penalty for a white gunman who killed 10 Black people during a racially motivated shooting at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York in 2022.

Biden’s move of presidential commutation, which is irreversible, comes just weeks before President-elect Trump takes office. Trump has said he would resume executions and may attempt to expand the crimes that qualify for capital punishment.

1 posted on 12/23/2024 6:07:05 AM PST by Red Badger

To: Red Badger

2 posted on 12/23/2024 6:08:59 AM PST by PGR88

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