US: Biden Commutes Most Federal Death Sentences

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(Washington, DC) – US President Joe Biden announced on December 23, 2024 that he is commuting the sentences of 37 people on federal death row. These individuals will have their sentences reclassified from execution to life without the possibility of parole. 

Human Rights Watch on November 1, 2024 sent a letter to President Biden urging commutation.  Dozens of civil rights groups and others including faith leaders, victim advocates, judges, prosecutors, and corrections officials sent similar requests from across the US.  Human Rights Watch opposes the death penalty in all cases because it is an attack on human dignity, uniquely cruel in its finality, and inevitably marked by discrimination, arbitrariness, and error.

The following quote can be attributed to Tanya Greene, US program director at Human Rights Watch:

“Outgoing US President Joe Biden took a landmark step to reject racist violence and the human rights abuse of the US death penalty by commuting the death sentences of most of the men on federal death row to life sentences without parole.  This courageous decision recognizes the US death penalty has failed to deter crime or improve public safety, risked the execution of innocent people, and runs counter to the belief in the dignity of all human life and the possibility of redemption.”