Left-wing groups are pressuring President Joe Biden to commute the sentences of all federal death row inmates, including notorious murderers such as the Boston Marathon bomber and Charleston church shooter, before they leave office.
hundreds of Democratic supporters organization have signed to petition “It is not too late to take decisive action,” Biden wrote, urging him to keep his campaign promise to abolish the death penalty by commuting the sentences of all prisoners. (Related: Jan. 6 defendants already counting on President Trump’s promise of pardon)
“As you know, this disgusting and outdated punishment raises serious concerns, including the arbitrariness of its application, inherent racial bias, and the alarming acquittal rate of those sentenced to death,” the petition states. It is stated in.
Charles Fein Lehman, a fellow at the Manhattan Institute, told the Daily Caller News Foundation that commuting all death sentences would mean that by electing President Donald Trump, he would be “undermining the mandate that the American people just gave us. He said it would be a denial.
“Joe Biden had four years to enact a major presidential pardon,” Lehman said. “He didn’t do that. It’s ridiculous for him to do that on the go. It’s a shame that all right-thinking Americans would grant administrative clemency to people who agree they deserve the death penalty. It would be especially ridiculous because it would mean.”
President Trump has said he wants to expand the use of the death penalty in certain cases, such as child rapists, drug traffickers and illegal criminals. immigration Those who kill American citizens.
Democrats For Life is proud to join the more than 350 organizations that have signed the following letter: @POTUS He called for commuting the sentences of federal death row inmates, abolishing the death penalty, and destroying death penalty facilities. #StopExecutions
Take action here: https://t.co/X7AhV4vsTC
— Democratic Party for Life (@demsforlife) November 8, 2024
The petition demands commutation of the death penalty, decertification of “all pending federal capital court cases,” banning the authorization of new death penalty prosecutions, rescinding internal guidelines on death row cases, and requiring the Bureau of Prisons to ” This includes an order to demolish the federal death chamber. ”
The organizations that signed the petition are: sponsored Targets of the death penalty action include Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. based on some kind of faith group The Catholic Mobilization Network and the Episcopal Peace Fellowship also signed on, as did the United States Association of Catholic Priests.
One of the inmates on death row, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, was sentenced to death for his role in the 2013 Boston bombings that killed three people and injured hundreds more. supreme court supported His sentence was handed down in 2022 after it was overturned by a federal appeals court. called The attack, which Tsarnaev committed with his brother, was “one of the worst domestic terrorist attacks” since 9/11.
The jury found that another death row inmate, Dylann Roof, guilty He was accused of killing nine people in 2015. shooting At a black church in Charleston, South Carolina.
The Reverend Sharon Risher, Chairman of the Death Penalty Committee said He said killing Roof, who took the lives of his mother, cousin and friend, “does nothing to help me heal,” Newsweek reported.
There are currently 40 people on federal death row. According to Go to the Death Penalty Information Center.
President Biden has campaigned on tackling the death penalty issue, and he has one last chance to take meaningful action before President Trump takes office.
Please tell that to President Biden. Act now and commute the sentences of federal death row inmates. https://t.co/YXww1kGyUg
— ACLU (@ACLU) November 8, 2024
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is also circulating a petition calling for the federal death penalty to be commuted, without mentioning why the inmate was put to death. was convicted of a crimewhich includes crimes such as mass shootings, brutal murders, and kidnappings.
“Now, in 2024, when more than half of the federal death row population is made up of people of color, we have an opportunity to prevent irreversible miscarriages of justice and build a legacy rooted in racial justice and compassion.” the petition states. state. “You came into office promising to take action against the death penalty because it is fundamentally flawed. Now is the time to make good on that promise, especially now as the country moves closer and closer to the Trump administration again. It’s time.”
Democrats for Life, the ACLU and the White House did not respond to requests for comment.
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