The president of the United States, Joe Biden, announced this Monday that will commute the sentences of 37 of the 40 people sentenced to death at the federal level, in a decision made with less than a month left before he leaves office. All commuted sentences will be reclassified and converted to life sentences without the possibility of parole, the White House said in a statement.
The Democratic president has issued more commutations at the end of his presidency than any of his recent predecessors at the same time in their first terms, according to the US Presidency in that note. Biden, who will leave office on January 20“has dedicated his career to reducing violent crime and ensuring a fair and effective justice system” and “believes that the United States should end the use of the death penalty at the federal level, except in cases of terrorism and mass murder motivated by hate,” he explains.
When he began his term in January 2021, his Administration imposed a moratorium on federal executions, and its measures today will prevent Republican Donald Trump’s Executive from “confirming execution sentences that would not be issued under current policy and practice.”
The president pointed out in a statement that the commutations dictated are in line with the moratorium applied for cases that are not related to terrorism or murders en masse motivated by hate. Earlier this month, Biden announced clemency for approximately 1,500 Americans – the most in a single day – who have demonstrated successful rehabilitation and a commitment to making communities safer.
This included sentence commutations for nearly 1,500 people who were placed on home confinement during the COVID-19 pandemic and have successfully reintegrated into their families and communities, as well as 39 pardons for those convicted of non-violent crimes.
Biden is also the first president to grant categorical pardons for people convicted of the simple use and possession of marijuana and former members of the Armed Forces who belong to the LGBTQI+ community convicted of private conduct due to their sexual orientation.
Among those who benefited from today’s decision are several Hispanics, including Daniel Troya and Ricardo Sánchez Jr., sentenced to death in Florida in 2010 for killing four people in a family in a drug-related reckoning. Also the Salvadoran Salvatrucha gang member Jorge Avila-Torrez, convicted of murdering two girls in 2005 and a naval officer in 2009, will have his sentence commuted, as will Edgar Baltazar García, of Mexican origin who was sentenced to death in 2010. for having killed another inmate at the Beaumont prison in Texas.
“Let no one be mistaken: I condemn these murderers, I mourn the victims of their despicable acts and I feel sorry for all the families who have suffered unimaginable and irreparable losses,” Biden said.
He added, however, that guided by his conscience and his experience as a public defender, he is “more convinced than ever” that the use of the death penalty at the federal level must be stopped. “In good conscience, I cannot step back and allow a new administration to resume the executions that I stopped,” he concluded.
