Biden commutes 37 federal death sentences to life prison terms

Outgoing US President Joe Biden on Monday commuted the death sentences of dozens of people to life in prison without parole.

The White House released the names of 37 people currently held on death row after being convicted under federal law.

"Make no mistake: I condemn these murderers, grieve for the victims of their despicable acts, and ache for all the families who have suffered unimaginable and irreparable loss," said Biden, who has consistently been an outspoken opponent of the death penalty.

The 82-year-old Democrat said, however, that he is "more convinced than ever that we must stop the use of the death penalty at the federal level," based on his conscience and his experiences as a public defender and politician.

Under his aegis, a moratorium on federal executions has been in place since July 2021.

"I cannot stand back and let a new administration resume executions that I halted," Biden said.

His successor, Donald Trump, who is set to take office on January 20, is a staunch supporter of the death penalty and it is assumed that he will end Biden's moratorium.

The president cannot pardon people on death row who were convicted under state law, which according to the Death Penalty Information Center, amounts to more than 2,000 people.

Biden has explicitly excluded three of the 40 prisoners sentenced to death at the federal level from having their sentences commuted – namely those convicted of terrorism or hate-motivated mass murder, including the surviving Boston Marathon bomber, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.