President Joe Biden is thankfully in the final days of his sham of a presidency. Sadly, he just made a disturbing move that makes it clear that he’s not done causing harm to America.
The White House has been particularly active in recent weeks. Indeed, Biden has made a series of decisions that will have lasting implications well beyond his January 20th departure. Among these actions, a dramatic shift in federal criminal justice policy has emerged.
Legal experts and law enforcement officials have watched closely as the administration appeared poised to make one final significant move before President-elect Donald Trump takes office.
That move became clear on Monday morning when Biden announced he is commuting the sentences of nearly all inmates on federal death row. Indeed, he’s reclassifying 37 of the 40 death sentences to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. The sweeping action spares dozens of convicted murderers from execution. This includes those who killed law enforcement officers, children, and witnesses to their crimes.
“Make no mistake: I condemn these murderers,” Biden said in a statement, while defending his decision as a matter of conscience. However, critics argue the details of specific cases paint a disturbing picture of those receiving clemency.
Meet The People Being Given Clemency
Among those spared execution is Kaboni Savage. He’s a drug lord who murdered or directed the murders of 12 people during a 16-year period. This included ordering an arson that killed six members of a federal informant’s family. Jorge Torrez, who killed 8-year-old Laura Hobbs and 9-year-old Krystal Tobias in Illinois, will also now serve life instead of facing execution thanks to Biden.
“This is a horrific betrayal of justice,” said Rep. Keith Self, R-Texas. He noted that many of the commuted sentences involved particularly heinous crimes. Sen. Tom Cotton added that “when given the choice between law-abiding Americans or criminals, Joe Biden and the Democrats choose criminals every time.”
Only three death row inmates were excluded from Biden’s clemency. The three are Robert Bowers, who killed 11 people at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life Synagogue in 2018; Dylann Roof, who murdered nine Black parishioners at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston in 2015; and Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. The White House said these exceptions were made because they involved “terrorism and hate-motivated mass murder.”
The timing of Biden’s December 23rd decision appears directly linked to Trump’s imminent return to office. Trump has repeatedly called for expanding the death penalty, including applying it to drug dealers and human traffickers. During his first term, Trump oversaw 13 federal executions between July 2020 and January 2021. This is more than any president in modern history.
“In good conscience, I cannot stand back and let a new administration resume executions that I halted,” Biden stated. This explicitly acknowledged the political context of his decision. Unlike executive orders, clemency decisions cannot be reversed by future presidents.
Biden’s Hunter Pardon
The move follows Biden’s December 12th commutation of sentences for nearly 1,500 prisoners placed in home confinement during COVID-19. He also pardoned 40 others, including his son Hunter – despite previously insisting he would not do so.
For the families of victims, the news has been particularly difficult to process. Michael Graham, whose sister Cynthia Hurd was killed by Dylann Roof, expressed relief that at least some of the most notorious killers will still face justice.
“This was a crime against a race of people who were doing something all Americans do on a Wednesday night – go to Bible study,” he said.
As Biden prepares to leave office, this final act of clemency sets up an immediate conflict with the incoming Trump administration’s law-and-order agenda. With Trump vowing to restart and expand federal executions, the death penalty is likely to remain a flashpoint of partisan division for years to come.
The lasting impact of Biden’s decision will be felt not just by the inmates whose lives were spared. It will also be felt by the families of their victims who must now reconcile with knowing their loved ones’ killers will live out their natural lives behind bars. This is all due to a last-minute political decision in the waning days of a departing administration.
Shame on you, Joe Biden.
Key Takeaways:
- Biden commutes 37 death sentences just weeks before Trump’s planned expansion of capital punishment.
- Commuted sentences include cop killers, child murderers, and those who killed witnesses.
- The move follows a pattern of controversial clemency, including Hunter Biden’s pardon.
- Unlike executive orders, these commutations cannot be reversed by the incoming Trump administration.
Sources: Fox News, USA Today, Reuters, The Associated Press, NBC News, CBS News
