US President Joe Biden commutes death sentences of 37 of 40 inmates on death row ahead of power hand-over to Trump
Op IndiaOn Monday, 23rd December, US President Joe Biden commuted death sentences of 37 federal inmates changing their punishment to life in prison without parole. This is ahead of January 20th, 2025, when incumbent President Joe Biden would hand over power to President-elect Donald Trump. Incumbent President Joe Biden is believed to have faced pressures recently from congressional Democrats, anti-death penalty advocates, and religious leaders, including Pope Francis, to commute federal death sentences before the end of his term following which the action has been taken. It also excludes three high-profile federal death row inmates identified as Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, convicted for the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing; Dylann Roof, convicted for the 2015 shooting at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina; and Robert Bowers, convicted for the 2018 mass shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh.