Official announcement from the White House or Department of Justice

Biden Weighs Commuting Sentences of 40 Death Row Inmates, Including Tsarnaev and Roof

Dec 21, 2024, 12:25 AM

President Joe Biden is considering commuting the sentences of most, if not all, of the 40 men on the federal government's death row, according to reports from the Wall Street Journal. The potential commutations would replace their death sentences with life imprisonment without parole and could include high-profile inmates such as Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and Charleston church shooter Dylann Roof. This move comes amid pressure from a broad coalition of religious and civil rights groups, as well as members of Congress and public figures like actor Martin Sheen, urging the President to honor his campaign promise to eliminate the federal death penalty. Advocates highlight that over 200 people on death row have been exonerated since 1973 and emphasize the death penalty's disproportionate impact on Black and Brown communities. In a previous statement, Biden said, “Because we can’t ensure that we get these cases right every time, we must eliminate the death penalty.”