In a significant move, U.S. President Joe Biden announced on Monday that he has commuted the death sentences of 37 out of 40 federal inmates, a decision made in light of the impending return of President Donald Trump, who oversaw a series of federal executions during his administration.
With less than a month remaining in his term, Biden faced increasing pressure from death penalty opponents to convert the sentences of those on death row to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. The three inmates who will remain on federal death row include Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, convicted for his role in the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing; Dylann Roof, who killed nine Black churchgoers in a 2015 shooting in Charleston, South Carolina; and Robert Bowers, responsible for the 2018 mass shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, which claimed the lives of 11 Jewish worshippers.
Biden’s decision leaves only a small number of high-profile offenders facing the federal death penalty, which has been under a moratorium during his presidency. “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 stated.
He elaborated, “I am commuting the sentences of 37 of the 40 individuals on federal death row to life sentences without the possibility of parole.” Among those commuted are nine individuals convicted of murdering fellow inmates, four for murders committed during bank robberies, and one who killed a prison guard.
Biden expressed his condemnation
Biden expressed his condemnation of the crimes committed by these individuals, stating, “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.” He emphasized his belief that the federal death penalty should be abolished, saying, “Guided by my conscience and my experience…I am more convinced than ever that we must stop the use of the death penalty at the federal level.”
During his reelection campaign, Trump frequently advocated for expanding the death penalty to include migrants who kill American citizens and those involved in drug and human trafficking. Under his administration, federal executions resumed after a 17-year hiatus, with 13 inmates executed by lethal injection in the final six months of his presidency—the highest number in over a century.
The last federal execution occurred on January 16, 2021, just four days before Trump left office. Currently, 23 of the 50 U.S. states have abolished the death penalty, while six others—Arizona, California, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee—have moratoriums in place. In 2024, there have been 25 executions in the United States, all conducted at the state level.
