Biden commutes 37 of 40 federal death row sentences
-
by
Param Singh
President Joe Biden this week commuted the death penalty sentences of 37 of the 40 men on federal death row, changing their sentences to life imprisonment with no possibility of parole.
The move comes after Pope Francis and Catholic groups, secular organizations, and other individuals publicly pleaded with Biden to show mercy to the death row inmates, as CatholicVote previously reported.
“… I feel compelled to ask all of you to pray for the inmates on death row in the United States,” Pope Francis said during his Angelus address Dec. 8. “Let us pray that their sentences may be commuted or changed. Let us think of these brothers and sisters of ours and ask the Lord for the grace to save them from death.”
Biden commuted the sentences on Dec. 23. According to a news release from the White House, Biden “believes that America must stop the use of the death penalty at the federal level, except in cases of terrorism and hate-motivated mass murder – which is why today’s actions apply to all but those cases.”
Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), welcomed Biden’s decision and called it a “significant step in advancing the cause of human dignity and respect for human life from womb to tomb in our nation.”
