US President Joe Biden has commuted the sentences of 37 of the 40 criminals who were sentenced to death at the federal level to life imprisonment.
In doing so, he wants to prevent them from receiving a lethal injection under his successor, Donald Trump.
“Make no mistake: I condemn these murderers, mourn the victims of their despicable acts,” Biden said. “But guided by my conscience and my experience, I am more convinced than ever that we must end the use of the death penalty at the federal level.”
No federal prisoners had been executed since 2003 until Trump restarted the executions in 2020. In the last six months of his presidency, 13 criminals were killed, more than under any other president in more than a century. During his campaign, Trump announced he would expand the use of the death penalty in a second term.
Executions are still taking place in just under half of the US states. A total of 25 inmates were executed at the state level this year.