President Joe Biden is considering commuting the sentences of many — or possibly all — of the 40 men on death row as one of his final acts in the White Office, according to a report.
The list of convicts who could avoid execution under the plans includes some of the country’s most notorious killers, including men convicted of massacring children and raping and murdering women.
Biden, 82, recently commuted the prison sentence of Shanlin Jin, a Chinese national who pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography, a move that drew sharp criticism from President-elect Donald Trump.
Since then, multiple religious and civil rights groups have been demanding that the commander in chief reduce the sentences of up to 40 prisoners facing execution.
The President’s latest plans, which will shock an America where 53 percent of the population supports the death penalty, were first reported by the Wall Street Journal.
Attorney General Merrick Garland, who oversees federal prisons, is said to have recommended that the president commute all but a handful of terrorism and hate crimes cases.
Criminals who could benefit from the plans include: Dylann Roof, who murdered nine people at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston in 2015; Iouri Mikhel, convicted of the murders and kidnappings for ransom of five Russian and Georgian immigrants in 2007; Thomas Sanders, sentenced to death for the kidnapping and death of a 12-year-old girl; and Daniel Troya, who killed two children in drug-related murders in 2009.
The inmates least likely to receive leniency are Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, convicted of killing three and wounding more than 250 in causing the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, and Robert Bowers, who killed 11 people in the attack 2018 to the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh.
President Joe Biden could commute the sentences of 40 death row inmates, including child killers, as one of his last acts in the White Office.
If their death sentences were commuted, the inmates would serve life in prison without parole.
A White House spokesperson has confirmed that no final decision has been made so far. The Department of Justice has not yet commented on the situation.
People close to Biden, whose term ends in January 2025, believe the decision could be made on Christmas Day.
In addition to the 40 death row inmates held by the Justice Department, four other inmates are also on the Army’s death row at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas.
It is not yet clear whether a possible commutation would cover unlisted inmates or how Biden’s possible decision could affect pending cases that could lead to a death sentence, including that of Luigi Mangione, who faces federal charges for the alleged murder of healthcare executive Brian Thompson.
During his three decades in the Senate, Biden supported the death penalty, a stance that long put him at odds with the doctrine of his Catholic faith.
However, this all changed during his presidential campaign in 2020. He vowed to pressure Congress to abolish the federal death penalty.
While this law never came into existence, Garland was able to stop the practice when he issued a moratorium to study the way people are executed, according to TIME.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was convicted of killing three and wounding more than 250 in causing the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing.
Thomas Sanders was sentenced to death for the kidnapping and death of a 12-year-old girl
Daniel Troya killed two children in drug-related murders in 2009
Dylann Roof murdered nine people at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston in 2015.
As the possibility of pardons looms, Republicans have begun to express their shock and disgust at the decision.
‘It would mean that progressive politics are more important to the president than the lives these murderers take.
“It would mean that society’s most forceful condemnation of white supremacy and anti-Semitism must give way to legal mumbo-jumbo,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said, referring to Bowers and Roof’s motives in a speech delivered on December 18.
And it seems that Republican sentiment is being felt by many Americans across the country.
According October 2024 poll produced by GallupAbout 53 percent of Americans remain in favor of the death penalty.
The data also showed that support for the death penalty has remained stable among Republicans over the past 25 years, but has changed among Democrats and independents.
But despite this, Biden has already commuted the sentences of 1,500 people and pardoned 39 others in the largest single-day act of clemency ever carried out in the United States.
Iouri Mikhel was convicted of the murders and kidnappings for ransom of five Russian and Georgian immigrants in 2007.
Robert Bowers killed 11 people in the 2018 attack on the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh
Marvin Gabrion was convicted in 2002 of the murder of Rachel Timmerman on federal land.
During his three decades in the Senate, Biden supported the death penalty, a stance that long put him at odds with the doctrine of his Catholic faith.
The names of the people involved have not been given, but the pardons are for those convicted of non-violent crimes.
The commutations were announced for those placed on home confinement during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Biden said these people would have received shorter sentences if they were charged under current laws, policies and practices.
“As President, I have the great privilege to extend mercy to people who have demonstrated remorse and rehabilitation, restore the opportunity for Americans to participate in daily life and contribute to their communities, and take action to eliminate disparities in sentencing for nonviolent offenders, especially those convicted of drug crimes,” Biden said.
The pardons come a week after the president was criticized for pardoning his own son Hunter for his federal crimes.
Officials said last week that the White House was listening to Biden’s demands that he extend the same grace to thousands of people wronged by the American justice system.
Sources had told Reuters last week that the pardons being discussed were said to include people convicted of non-violent drug crimes and people identified by civil rights groups as being wrongfully imprisoned.
Biden said he would take further action in the coming weeks and continue to review clemency petitions.
The second largest act of clemency in a single day was that of Barack Obama, with 330, shortly before leaving office in 2017.