Biden “saves” 37 death row inmates before Trump arrives: sentences commuted to life sentences

The US President leaves only three men on death row: the perpetrator of the massacre in the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, the white supremacist who killed nine people in a church in Charleston, and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, involved in the Boston Marathon bombing .

ROMA – Joe Biden commuted 37 death sentences to life sentences. A saving gesture, less than a month after the inauguration of Donald Trump, who has repeatedly promised to resume executions, interrupted by the previous administration. All death row inmates “saved” by Biden will now serve life sentences without the possibility of parole. Only three people, perpetrators of some of the most notorious and devastating crimes in recent history, will remain on death row.

Biden, who made ending the federal death penalty one of his goals during his 2020 presidential campaign, stressed that this move is in line with his commitment to stop the use of capital punishment. Although the bill to abolish it never advanced in Congress, Biden nevertheless imposed a moratorium on executions, suspending death sentences. Trump had counted 13 federal executions during his first term.

“I am more convinced than ever that we must stop the use of the death penalty at the federal level“said the President of the United States.

The commutations concern men of different ethnicities – 15 whites, 15 blacks, 6 Latinos and one Asian – sentenced in 16 states, including those that have already abolished the death penalty.

There remain only three men who will not have their sentences commuted: Robert D. Bowers, perpetrator of the massacre at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, Dylann Roof, the white supremacist who killed nine people in a Charleston church, and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, involved in the Boston Marathon bombing.