A little more than a month before President-elect Donald Trump is set to take office, President Joe Biden announced on Monday that he’s commuting the sentences of 37 individuals on federal death row—leaving only three awaiting execution under the federal system. In the same breath, Biden reaffirmed his broader commitment to ending the death penalty at the federal level.
Here’s a deeper look at what exactly the president did, why he chose not to commute four specific sentences (three individuals, plus an additional mention of one person’s name twice), and how this decision fits into the larger landscape of capital punishment in the United States.
President Joe Biden commuted the death sentences of 37 out of 40 federal inmates who had originally been slated for execution. Under his decision, those 37 individuals will now serve life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. They will no longer face the death chamber, even if a new administration decides to resume federal executions. Although 37 might not seem like a large number compared to the broader U.S. prison population, it represents a sweeping shift, given that federal death row has historically been small but symbolically significant.
Who’s not included?
Biden notably did not commute the sentences of three particularly high-profile offenders convicted of terrorist or hate-fueled mass murders:
- Dzhokhar Tsarnaev – One of the brothers responsible for the deadly 2013 Boston Marathon bombing.
- Dylann Roof – A self-described White supremacist who killed nine Black parishioners at Charleston’s Mother Emanuel AME Church in 2015.
- Robert Bowers – The man who murdered 11 worshippers at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life Synagogue in 2018.
These three remain on federal death row, indicating that Biden drew a moral or legal line where acts involving large-scale terror or hate-based violence would not receive the same clemency. Notably, Biden also singled out that these crimes were “terrorism or hate-motivated mass murder,” which aligns with the existing moratorium on federal executions that does not apply to terrorism or large-scale hate crimes.
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A Campaign Promise Partially Fulfilled
During the 2020 presidential race, Biden campaigned on abolishing the federal death penalty. One of his pledges was to halt federal executions—something he did soon after entering office through a Department of Justice moratorium. That effort was widely lauded by anti-death penalty activists, but critics noted that the administration continued to defend or pursue capital sentences in certain legal cases (most prominently, Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev).
Now, with these 37 commutations, Biden is making perhaps his most dramatic move yet toward fulfilling his vow. “Make no mistake: I condemn these murderers,” Biden said in his statement, recognizing that the crimes committed by those on federal death row were “despicable” and left behind grieving families. Still, he emphasized his moral conviction that the state should not carry out executions—at least outside the realm of mass violence or terrorism.
His words reflect a personal journey. Biden cited his experience as a public defender, as the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, as vice president, and now as president. He said he’s “more convinced than ever” that the federal government should not be in the business of capital punishment. Nonetheless, as a practical matter, Biden’s power only extends to federal crimes. Thousands of people remain on state-level death rows nationwide, an issue outside presidential authority.
The Four People Whose Sentences Biden Did Not Commute
While the headlines highlight three individuals (Tsarnaev, Roof, and Bowers), there was also a note that Biden declined to commute the sentence of Dylann Roof. The statement references him twice—once among the trio of people singled out (Tsarnaev, Roof, Bowers) and again in a sentence that specifically calls out his involvement in the Mother Emanuel AME Church shooting. Essentially, these references underscore Roof’s heinous actions, along with the other two. In total, that leaves three inmates on federal death row after Monday’s announcement.
Why these exceptions? The Biden administration’s public line is that these crimes fall under terrorism or hate-based mass killings, which is consistent with Biden’s statement about “cases other than terrorism and hate-motivated mass murder.” Publicly, at least, the White House message suggests that it considers these murders so egregious that removing the death penalty option would contradict the seriousness of the crimes. Of course, critics who advocate for a total abolition of capital punishment might argue that lines of morality are not so simply drawn, but for now, that is Biden’s stance.
A Look at Some of Those Who Received Commutations
Among the 37 who escaped the federal death chamber, a few names stand out:
- Thomas Steven Sanders – He was sentenced to death for the kidnapping and murder of a 12-year-old girl in Louisiana.
- Len Davis – A former New Orleans police officer who ordered the killing of a woman who filed an Internal Affairs complaint against him.
- Richard Allen Jackson – Convicted of kidnapping, rape, and murder of a 22-year-old jogger in Asheville, North Carolina.
Many of the other commutations, according to Biden’s announcement, covered individuals convicted of “less high-profile” offenses, such as murders tied to drug trafficking or killings of inmates or prison guards. Collectively, these are crimes that, in the president’s view, do not fall into the narrow category of hate crimes or large-scale terrorism.
The Reaction from Both Sides
Supporters of Commutation
Progressive lawmakers, criminal justice reform advocates, and anti-death penalty organizations have long pressed Biden to take broad action on federal death row. Groups like the American Civil Liberties Union have argued that the capital punishment system is “racist” and “unjust” and that a president who pledged to end the federal death penalty should not simply let these death sentences remain. This commutation effectively clears most of the federal death row; a move activists applaud as bold and historically significant.
Critics and Conservative Voices
Critics, including some Republicans and relatives of victims, might view the commutations as Biden going soft on violent criminals. President-elect Donald Trump, set to enter office next month, labeled Biden’s death penalty moratorium as “vile” during the 2024 campaign and said he plans to restore and even expand the use of federal executions. Trump’s stance includes potentially using capital punishment for a wider range of crimes, including drug trafficking and the killing of law enforcement officers.
The Future of the Death Penalty Under President-elect Trump
Trump already resurrected federal executions during the final months of his first term, ending a 17-year hiatus. Thirteen individuals were executed then. Looking ahead, if Trump decides to resume federal executions early in his next administration, he wouldn’t be able to reverse commutations granted by Biden. Those 37 inmates who are now off death row remain free from that ultimate penalty—they’d remain in prison for life.
However, for new or existing cases where the death penalty is still on the table (or for the three who remain on death row), the Trump administration could theoretically move swiftly to schedule executions. Moreover, Trump has mentioned wanting to expand the list of crimes eligible for federal capital punishment. Critics and civil rights organizations warn this could lead to an uptick in federal executions.
Biden’s executive power only extends to federal offenders. Over 2,000 people on various state death row across the country remain unaffected by this decision. States like Texas, Oklahoma, and Florida still have active capital punishment systems. Many states, however, have either abolished the death penalty or instituted their own moratoria. Biden’s commutation offers no relief to those sentenced under state laws.
Just days prior, Biden also granted a massive round of clemency—reportedly around 1,500 people—in a single-day act that many have called the most extensive in modern history. This wave of pardons and commutations arrived as the president also pardoned his own son, Hunter Biden, for federal tax and gun convictions. The White House signaled that there would be further announcements on clemency and commutations in Biden’s remaining time in office.
Timing is everything in politics. With President-elect Trump’s inauguration coming in a matter of weeks, Biden appears to be using his final days to cement his policy legacy on the death penalty issue. He set a moratorium on federal executions early in his presidency but had not yet acted on the fates of those sitting on death row. Doing so now effectively precludes a future administration from executing these inmates—solidifying one part of his pledge to move away from capital punishment.
According to Senator Chris Coons, a longtime Biden ally from Delaware, the president considered each case individually. Coons said on CNN that “there are reasons—both in terms of racial justice, due process, and what it says domestically and to the world about our values—why we wouldn’t want to see all these individuals executed.” That perspective dovetails with Biden’s broader emphasis on morality, fairness, and the international image of America’s justice system.
President Biden’s decision to commute 37 federal death sentences marks a significant milestone in the ongoing debate over capital punishment in the United States. He has reaffirmed his stance that the death penalty—aside from “terrorism and hate-motivated mass murder” cases—should no longer be used, pointing to what he sees as an unjust and racially biased system. Yet, he left three high-profile inmates on death row, indicating he views those crimes as especially egregious.
As the nation prepares for President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration, the contrast between the two presidents’ philosophies on capital punishment couldn’t be starker. While Biden’s commutations protect many from future federal executions, Trump has signaled plans to revive and even broaden the scope of federal capital punishment. For now, 37 lives have definitively been spared the death chamber, ensuring that no matter how aggressive Trump’s future policies might be, those individuals will remain outside its reach.
