WASHINGTON, DC, USA — President Joe Biden announced Monday that he has commuted the death sentences of 37 federal inmates, converting their sentences to life without the possibility of parole.
The decision leaves only three individuals on federal death row and represents the administration’s most sweeping action to date against capital punishment.
“These commutations are consistent with the moratorium my Administration has imposed on federal executions, in cases other than terrorism and hate-motivated mass murder,” Biden said in a statement on Monday, December 23, 2024.
“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 as a public defender, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Vice President, and now President, I am more convinced than ever that we must stop the use of the death penalty at the federal level.
“In good conscience, I cannot stand back and let a new administration resume executions that I halted,” Biden added.
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Three Remain on Death Row
The three individuals who remain on federal death row include Robert Bowers, who killed 11 people at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh in 2018; Dylann Roof, responsible for the 2015 shooting at a historically black church in Charleston, South Carolina, that killed nine; and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, one of the perpetrators of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing.
Attorney General Merrick Garland implemented a moratorium on federal executions in 2021, and no executions have occurred during Biden’s presidency.
However, the Justice Department has pursued the death penalty in certain cases, including against the white supremacist responsible for the 2022 Buffalo grocery store shooting that killed 10 Black people.
One of the inmates whose sentence was commuted, Billie Allen, expressed gratitude.
Allen, sentenced to death in 1998 for a bank robbery that resulted in a security guard’s death, has long maintained his innocence.
“I am grateful, and I will say, on behalf of most of the people here, they are grateful as well,” Allen said.
“Most of the people in here when they heard the news, is, ‘this is a second chance for me to be better.’”
Allen said he had prepared for execution under the incoming administration, which he feared might resume executions.
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Political Divisions Over the Death Penalty
Biden’s decision has reignited fierce debate over capital punishment in the United States.
Former President Donald Trump, who oversaw 13 federal executions during his first term, has vowed to expand the use of the death penalty, including for drug dealers and undocumented immigrants convicted of murder.
“These are among the worst killers in the world, and this abhorrent decision by Joe Biden is a slap in the face to the victims, their families, and their loved ones,” said Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., echoed Trump’s criticism, calling the move “a slap in the face to the families who have suffered immeasurably at the hands of these animals.”
Broader Context of Biden’s Clemency Actions
Biden’s commutations of death sentences come as part of a broader clemency effort.
Earlier this month, he commuted the sentences of nearly 1,500 nonviolent offenders and pardoned 39 individuals, including his son Hunter Biden.
The president also reportedly considered pre-emptive pardons for individuals he believes could be targeted under a second Trump administration.
A Changing Landscape
The death penalty remains legal in about half of U.S. states, with over 2,200 individuals on death row nationwide.
While federal executions have paused under Biden, state-level executions continue, with more than two dozen carried out this year, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
Biden’s decision to commute the sentences of nearly all federal death row inmates marks a significant shift in federal policy, but its long-term impact remains uncertain as the political and legal battles over capital punishment persist.
