US President-elect Donald Trump has sharply criticized incumbent Joe Biden’s decision to commute the death sentences of dozens of criminals to life imprisonment. “When you hear everyone’s actions, you won’t believe they did this,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform. “That doesn’t make any sense.”
The Republican announced that after taking office he would instruct the Justice Department to “vigorously pursue the death penalty.” “American families and children must be protected from violent rapists, murderers and monsters,” declared Trump. During the election campaign, he repeatedly spoke out in favor of tougher enforcement of the death penalty – for example in the case of migrants who have killed US citizens or police officers.
37 death row inmates get life imprisonment
On Monday, Biden commuted the sentences of 37 death row inmates convicted under federal law to life in prison without the possibility of parole. However, he expressly excluded three of the 40 federally convicted people from sentence commutation because their crimes involved terrorism or hate-motivated mass murder – including the Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.
The Catholic Democrat said he made the decision out of conscience, based on his many years of experience as a public defender and politician. He emphasized that he did not want to minimize the suffering of the victims and their families.
Biden also justified the decision with the assumption that a moratorium he initiated in July 2021 would be lifted under the incoming administration – executions at the federal level were thus suspended.
13 federal executions under Trump
There were also no federal executions at the beginning of Trump’s first term (2017 to 2021). Since 2003 there has been a de facto break. Shortly before the end of his term in office, Trump had executions resumed and carried out 13 executions within a few months – more than any US president in decades.
The death penalty remains legal in the United States at the federal level, in the military and in 27 states, but is not carried out everywhere. Presidents can only pardon federal prisoners; Death sentences in the states remain unaffected. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, there are currently more than 2,000 people on death row in U.S. prisons.
A slim majority of Americans still support the death penalty. However, doubts due to miscarriages of justice, discrimination and unequal legal representation are causing support to steadily decline.
