From The New York Times:
President Biden on Monday commuted the sentences of nearly all prisoners on federal death row, sparing the lives of 37 men just a month before Donald J. Trump will return to the Oval Office with a promise to restart federal executions.
Those affected by Mr. Biden’s action, all of whom were convicted of murder, will serve life imprisonment without the possibility of parole instead of facing execution. Only three men, who each carried out notorious mass killings, will remain on federal death row.
The president campaigned in 2020 on ending the federal death penalty. Although proposed legislation to that effect failed to advance in Congress during his administration, Mr. Biden directed the Justice Department to issue a moratorium on federal executions. Thirteen prisoners on federal death row were put to death during Mr. Trump’s first term.
“I am more convinced than ever that we must stop the use of the death penalty at the federal level,” Mr. Biden said in a statement on Monday. “In good conscience, I cannot stand back and let a new administration resume executions that I halted.”
Mr. Biden said the commutations were consistent with the standard he has imposed for halting executions “in cases other than terrorism and hate-motivated mass murder.”
“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,” Mr. Biden said.
The White House released statements of support from faith leaders, civil rights groups and law enforcement officials, as well as from friends and family members of those killed by men on death row.
“Putting to death the person who killed my police partner and best friend would have brought me no peace,” said Donnie Oliverio, a retired police officer, who alluded to Mr. Biden’s being Catholic. “The president has done what is right here, and what is consistent with the faith he and I share.” His partner, Bryan S. Hurst, was shot and killed while on duty by Daryl Lawrence during an attempted bank robbery in Columbus, Ohio. Mr. Lawrence was sentenced to death in 2006…
…A number of groups had called on the president to commute the sentences of the men on death row, including members of his party and several civil rights organizations. Mr. Biden also had a phone call with Pope Francis last week, who prayed this month that federal inmates facing execution would have their sentences commuted. In an article about the call, the Vatican’s news agency reported that the pope had “concern for those on death row.” Catholic Bishops in the United States had also called for the death sentences to be commuted.
UPDATE: From Washington Cardinal Wilton Gregory, this response:
“I applaud President Biden’s decision to commute these death sentences. It is one important step toward a greater respect for human life — even the lives of those who may have brought such suffering and pain to the lives of others. In imploring its abolition, Pope Francis, in line with the admonitions of his predecessors, has called the death penalty contrary to humanity’s social and ethical dignity, and unnecessary for the protection of society. The death penalty is but one more link in the awful loss of public respect for human life itself.”
