As President Joe Biden nears the end of his presidency, his campaign promise to end the federal death penalty remains unfulfilled, despite efforts to halt executions during his tenure. Biden’s administration has implemented a moratorium on federal executions, and no federal inmates have been executed since he took office. However, 40 men currently sit on federal death row, and anti-death penalty activists are urging Biden to commute their sentences before his term ends, especially as President-elect Donald Trump prepares to take office with a starkly different stance on capital punishment.
Biden’s Campaign Promise vs. Current Reality
During his 2020 presidential campaign, Biden promised to abolish the federal death penalty, citing the flawed nature of the system, including racial bias and wrongful convictions. His campaign website noted that more than 160 people sentenced to death since 1973 had been exonerated. Biden vowed to pass legislation to end the death penalty at the federal level and encourage states to follow suit. However, as he prepares to leave office, he has not succeeded in passing such legislation.
While Biden has commuted the sentences of 1,500 individuals and pardoned 39 others in recent weeks, the fate of the 40 men on federal death row remains unresolved. Activists view this as a critical moment to push for a commutation of all federal death sentences before Trump takes office, fearing a return to Trump-era policies on executions.
Trump’s Strongman Approach to the Death Penalty
Trump’s presidency marked a resumption of federal executions after a 17-year hiatus, with 13 executions carried out in the final months of his first term. His approach to the death penalty was part of a broader strategy to appeal to his white Protestant Republican base, for whom capital punishment remains a highly supported issue.
“It’s pretty shrewd on his part because we know that support for the death penalty is concentrated amongst white Protestant Republicans – a key and core part of his base,” said Daniel LaChance, an associate professor at Emory University.
Trump’s focus on the death penalty has made it a symbol of his administration, and he has pledged to expand its use if re-elected.
The Growing Push for Abolition
As Biden’s presidency draws to a close, pressure is mounting for him to act on his 2020 promise. Civil rights and anti-death penalty organizations, including the ACLU, Amnesty International USA, and NAACP Legal Defense Fund, have written letters urging him to commute the death sentences. They argue that the death penalty is deeply flawed, with inherent racial bias and disproportionate impacts on marginalized communities, especially Black Americans.
According to a letter from over 130 civil and human rights groups, over half of those on federal death row are non-white, with 38% being Black. The groups assert that Biden has an opportunity to align the U.S. with the global trend of abolishing the death penalty, as nearly two-thirds of countries have done so.
“By commuting federal death row, President Biden can protect human dignity, ensure that future administrations cannot weaponize the death penalty, and align our nation with the values of fairness, decency, and equity,” said Amy Fettig, Acting Co-Executive Director of Fair and Just Prosecution.
Biden’s Political Dilemma
While Biden has made significant moves on criminal justice reform, including commuting the sentences of thousands of people and tackling mass incarceration, the issue of federal death row presents a more politically fraught decision. The historically high level of public support for the death penalty—around 53% according to Gallup—especially among certain political and demographic groups, makes the decision complicated. Even as support for capital punishment has declined from a peak of 80% in 1994, it remains a polarizing issue.
LaChance notes the challenge: “The biggest challenge in terms of this topic is that death rows are filled with people who have indeed committed really terrible crimes.” For some, this makes the idea of commutation difficult, especially when the crimes are as horrific as those committed by individuals like Dylann Roof and Robert Bowers, both of whom are on federal death row for killing dozens in racially and religiously motivated attacks.
However, the fact that Biden has already made controversial moves, like pardoning his son Hunter Biden for gun and tax charges, suggests that he may be less concerned with political optics as he wraps up his term.
What’s Next for the Death Penalty in the U.S.?
The death penalty debate is far from settled in the U.S., and Biden’s final decision could shape his legacy on criminal justice reform. Some experts argue that commuting federal death sentences would reflect a shift in the nation’s values and place the U.S. more in line with the growing international trend toward abolition.
“The death penalty has lost its kind of the sense of necessity and importance to many Americans,” LaChance adds, noting that the fear of violent crime that once fueled support for capital punishment has diminished over time. Despite this, some remain staunch defenders of the practice, believing it to be an important tool in the fight against heinous crime.
As Biden weighs his options, the pressure is mounting for him to make a final decision before the end of his presidency. Whether he acts on his campaign promise remains uncertain, but the decision will undoubtedly be a defining moment for his administration’s stance on criminal justice and human rights.