Biden gives life in prison to 37 of 40 federal death row inmates | Jefferson City News-Tribune

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

51% : "But guided by my conscience and my experience as a public defender, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, vice president, and now president, I am more convinced than ever that we must stop the use of the death penalty at the federal level.
45% : "President Trump stands for the rule of law, which will return when he is back in the White House after he was elected with a massive mandate from the American people.
44% : During his first term as president, Trump also advocated for the death penalty for drug dealers.
42% : "Trump, who takes office Jan. 20, has spoken frequently of expanding executions.
41% : "Today, I am commuting the sentences of 37 of the 40 individuals on federal death row to life sentences without the possibility of parole.
40% : Speculation that Biden could commute federal death sentences intensified last week after the White House announced he plans to visit Italy on the final foreign trip of his presidency next month.
38% : These commutations are consistent with the moratorium my administration has imposed on federal executions, in cases other than terrorism and hate-motivated mass murder.
36% : "He took a political jab at Trump, saying, "In good conscience, I cannot stand back and let a new administration resume executions that I halted.
29% : In a speech announcing his 2024 campaign, Trump called for those "caught selling drugs to receive the death penalty for their heinous acts."
25% : But Biden actually had promised to go further on the issue in the past, pledging to end federal executions without the caveats for terrorism and hate-motivated, mass killings.
25% : President Joe Biden commuted the sentences of 37 of the 40 people on federal death row, converting their punishments to life imprisonment, but left Bowers, Roof and Tsarnaev still facing execution.
23% : "Some of Roof's victims supported Biden's decision to leave him on death row.
18% : President Joe Biden on Monday announced he is commuting the sentences of 37 of the 40 people on federal death row, converting their punishments to life imprisonment just weeks before President-elect Donald Trump, an outspoken proponent of expanding capital punishment, takes office.
18% : The final three occurred after Election Day in November 2020 but before Trump left office the following January, the first time federal prisoners were put to death by a lame-duck president since Grover Cleveland in 1889.
10% : Biden faced recent pressure from advocacy groups urging him to act to make it more difficult for Trump to increase the use of capital punishment for federal inmates.

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