Christmas came early for 37 federal death row inmates Monday as President Joe Biden commuted their sentences to life without the possibility of parole. He did not commute the sentences of those convicted of hate-motivated mass murder or terrorism.

“Make no mistake: I condemn these murderers, grieve for the victims of their despicable acts and ache for all the families who have suffered unimaginable and irreparable loss,” Biden said in a statement. But he added that “in good conscience, I cannot stand back and let a new administration resume executions that I halted.”

The commutations include 37 men convicted of murder who have been awaiting execution in the federal system. According to The Wall Street Journal, it does not include Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who with his now-dead brother bombed the 2013 Boston Marathon, killing three and wounding hundreds; Robert Bowers, who killed 11 people in 2018 at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh; and Dylann Roof, who killed nine people in 2015 at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina. Nor were four servicemen found guilty of murder and on military death row at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, included in the commutation.

According to Fox News, the victims of those who received commutation included “law enforcement officers, children and other inmates.”

The Wall Street Journal reported that “the Biden administration has continued to seek death sentences in a handful of cases, including that of Payton Gendron, who is awaiting trial in federal court for the 2022 mass shooting at a Tops supermarket in Buffalo, N.Y. Gendron already is serving a life term for the killings in state prison, the most severe sentence under New York law because the state has no death penalty.”

“Outside of the federal system, there are over 2,000 people in the United States who were convicted in state courts and put on death row,” CNN reported, citing the Death Penalty Information Center. “Biden has no power to stop those death sentences.”

This combination photo shows federal death row inmates Robert Bowers, from left, the gunman who massacred 11 worshippers at a Pittsburgh synagogue in 2018, Dylann Roof, who committed racist slayings of nine members of a Black South Carolina congregation, and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, convicted for carrying out the April 15, 2013, Boston Marathon bombing attack. 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. | Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, from left, Charleston County Sheriff's Office, FBI via the Associated Press

Were the victims’ families consulted?

Paul Cassell, a distinguished professor of criminal law at the University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law, wrote for Reason.com that it’s unclear whether the president conferred with any families of the victims who were murdered by the men who received commutation of their sentences. “I wonder whether the President has ignored the rights and interests of crime victims’ family members in granting mass commutations.”

Cassell noted an announced Justice Department policy for handing requests for executive clemency.

It states in part that “The family or families of any victim of an offense for which the petitioner was sentenced to death may, with the assistance of the prosecuting office, request to make an oral presentation of reasonable duration to the Office of the Pardon Attorney,” he wrote, adding the White House fact sheet made no reference to that happening.

His question, Cassell added, is procedural. “I don’t take a position on the substantive pros and cons of the 37 commutations.”

What the Catholic Church says about death penalty

The reaction to the commutation of the death sentences has been divided. Some Republican lawmakers have been unabashedly critical, even questioning the president’s competence to make such decisions. On the other side, Catholic leaders and civil rights groups have been among those heralding the commutation of the federal death row sentences.

Based on his previous statements, it’s clear that President-elect Donald Trump opposes the commutation. The CNN article reported that Trump “has voiced support for imposing the death penalty on convicted human traffickers and drug dealers, while also saying he would seek to have prosecutors pursue the death penalty for migrants who kill American citizens or anyone who kills a law enforcement officer.”

Pope Francis advocated for the commutations during his Angelus address in October, according to the Vatican news service. And he and Biden shared a phone call last week. The pope had earlier prayed that the sentences would be commuted, according to The New York Times and other reports.

Biden is also a Catholic. Representatives of that faith have been among ardent supporters of ending the death penalty.

“These commutations are a significant step in advancing the cause of human dignity and respect for human life from womb to tomb in our nation,” said Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, in a written statement heralding the decision.

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Who did the men whose death sentences were commuted kill?

Broglio added, “As we continue to proclaim the gospel in a broken world, this act of mercy is a step closer to building a culture of life. We encourage all lawmakers to continue to work towards the total abolition of the death penalty and to redirect the energy and resources that currently go towards executions to provide compassionate and professional assistance to the families of victims.”

Lawmakers criticize Biden commutations

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, reposted a New York Post entry on X that included photos of two convicted killers and their young victims. It read, “Biden commutes death sentences of child killers and mass murderers 2 days before Christmas.”

Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., called the move “politically convenient.” “Once again, Democrats side with depraved criminals over their victims, public order and common decency,” he posted on X.

He added, “Joe Biden is using his last days in office to spare the worst monsters in America. Democrats can’t even defend Biden’s outrageous decision as some kind of principled, across-the-board opposition to the death penalty since he didn’t commute the three most politically toxic cases.”

Cotton later posted: “Contracts, wills, and other legal actions are null and void if a party is mentally incompetent, as Joe Biden obviously is. The Congress and the Trump Department of Justice should investigate whether these pardons for depraved murderers are binding.”

Rep. Dan Meuser, R-Pa., posted on X that the president’s decision “is not just senseless — it’s an outrageous example of this administration’s upside down and backwards ideology.” Biden’s “out-of-touch agenda keeps putting America last. January 20th cannot come soon enough,” he added, including a link to an interview he gave Newsmax.

Democratic Rep. Mike Quigley, of Illinois, was also critical, per The Hill. “I have real concerns overall with the death penalty, but I also have concerns with the executive branch overturning cases that have been decided by courts across the country,” he told CNN. “We have to have some autonomy there.”

He added, “... I think the baseline is, I think you commute sentences or pardon people when you think justice was not done in those cases. It sets a precedent here, it goes well beyond pardoning his own son, which I think is a mistake, no one is above the law.”

Others have also been very outspoken in their position on commuting the death sentences.

Per The New York Times, “The White House released statements of support from faith leaders, civil rights groups and law enforcement officials, as well as from friends and family members of those killed by men on death row.”

The article quoted Donnie Oliverio, a retired police officer. “The president has done what is right here and what is consistent with the faith he and I share.” His partner was killed on duty by Daryl Lawrence, who was robbing a bank in Columbus, Ohio. Lawrence was given the death sentence in 2006 and is among those who will instead have life in prison with no chance of parole.

Fox News reported that 28 former corrections officials signed a letter urging the president to commute sentences on federal death row because of safety concerns for corrections officials who help carry out executions.

Additionally, according to ABC News, dozens of civil liberties, civil and human rights, faith-based, academic and social justice groups — 134 total — signed a letter to the president dated in early December asking him to commute the sentences. The heavily footnoted missive reported that people of color are overrepresented on death row and added that the “death penalty does not advance public safety.” It also noted that “since 1973 at least 200 people have been exonerated from death rows across the United States.”

Groups signing that letter included the American Civil Liberties Union, Amnesty International and the Legal Defense Fund, among others.

The Equal Justice Initiative also posted on X about the commutation of the sentences, writing that “this historic commutation marks what could become a turning point in the history of capital punishment in the United States.”

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Hamilton R. Grant thanked the president for keeping Dylann Roof on death row. On X, Grant posted: “As many of you know, my wife’s grandfather was brutally murdered with 9 others during a bible study at Mother Emanuel AME Church in 2015.”

Clemency for Christmas

A White House press release noted the president “believes that America must stop the use of the death penalty at the federal level,” except in cases of hate-motivated mass murder and terrorism. It added that when he became president, his administration “imposed a moratorium on federal executions, and his actions today will prevent the next administration from carrying out the execution sentences that would not be handed down under current policy and practice.”

The executive action follows earlier action this month, when Biden announced clemency for 1,500 Americans “who have shown successful rehabilitation and a commitment to making communities safer,” per the announcement. The vast majority of them were sent to home confinement during COVID-19. Thirty-nine pardons were granted to individuals who’d been convicted of nonviolent crimes. Additionally, he issued categorical pardons to those convicted of simple use and possession of marijuana and to former service members who were convicted of private conduct because of their sexual orientation.

The president also earlier pardoned his son, Hunter Biden, who had been convicted on tax and weapons charges. That pardon included any other federal crimes committed over the past decade.

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