Joe Biden commutes the death sentences of 37 convicts in the United States: he left them with life sentences

One day after celebration of Christmas
, The outgoing president of the United States, Joe Biden, announced the commutation of the death sentences of 37 of the 40 inmates on whom this sentence had been imposed by the federal justice system of the North American country.

The country’s president, through the same statement, maintained that said commutations were “consistent with the moratorium that my Administration has imposed on federal executions, in cases other than terrorism and mass murders motivated by hate.”

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And, in line with what Biden announced, of the 40 convicted prisoners, only three people continued with this sentence. According to what the president explained, these 3 people whose lives were not spared would have committed crimes related to terrorism y hate crimes.

However, although the 37 pardoned will not be sentenced to the death penalty, they will have a life sentence without the possibility of parole, as the president announced in the same statement.

The president, during his government, has constantly reiterated his opposition to the federal death penalty in the United Statesthus commuting the measure a few days before Donald Trump takes office.

Who are those sentenced to death whose sentences were not commuted in the United States?

The three death row inmates who did not receive this presidential commutation, as announced by the president, were those who committed massive and hate crimes, mainly related to terrorism.

The inmates not included among these benefits, as reported by Fox News, are the following:

• Robert Bowers: Imprisoned for having committed a mass shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in 2018. This attack resulted in 11 deaths.
• Dylann Roof: He is a white supremacist who was sentenced to capital punishment for having murdered, in 2015, nine black parishioners at the Emanuel AME Church in South Carolina.
• Dzhokhar Tsarnaev: Along with his brother (now deceased), Tsarnaev participated in the Boston bombing that killed 3 people and injured another hundred in 2013.

This series of commutations comes a few weeks after the president pardoned hundreds of Americans, including his son Hunter Biden, who was accused of having committed tax crimes and possession of firearms while being a user of illegal drugs.

As of December 13, 2024, and according to data from the Ministry of Justice cited by the American media, Biden has pardoned 65 people and commuted the sentences of 1,634 inmates during his mandate.