What's New
President Joe Biden's decision to leave mass murderer Dylann Roof on federal death row while commuting the sentences of 37 of the 40 men has sparked a backlash from death penalty opponents, including the daughter of one of Roof's victims.
Roof was condemned to death for the racist slayings of nine Black members of Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015.
The Reverend Sharon Risher, whose mother Ethel Lee Lance and two cousins were among those killed by Roof, called Biden's decision "unfair" and urged him to "finish the job"—referring to his administration's 2021 moratorium on federal capital punishment—by commuting the sentences of all the men on federal and military death row to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
"You can't rank victims, Mr. President," Risher, who is board chair of Death Penalty Action, told Newsweek. "I am begging you to finish the job, not only with the three men left on federal death row, but also with those on the military death row. There's still time. Finish the job."
Newsweek contacted the White House for comment via email.
Why It Matters
Biden's decision comes just weeks before President-elect Donald Trump, who oversaw an unprecedented number of federal executions in the final six months of his first term, returns to office on January 20
The president had been facing pressure from advocacy groups, lawmakers and religious leaders including Pope Francis to commute the sentences of those on federal death row before leaving office.
What To Know
The Biden administration announced a moratorium on federal capital punishment in 2021. Biden had pledged to end the federal death penalty while running for president in 2020, but death penalty opponents were disappointed when he did not take meaningful actions to do so after taking office.
His reelection website did not make a similar pledge before he quit the race in July.
In a statement on Monday, Biden said the commutations are "consistent with the moratorium my Administration has imposed on federal executions, in cases other than terrorism and hate-motivated mass murder."
He went on: "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." But he added that "he cannot stand back and let a new administration resume executions that I halted."
What People Are Saying
Risher said in a statement to Newsweek: "I am happy for all those whose sentences have been commuted, and grateful to President Biden for this unprecedented act of mercy, but this is so unfair.
"I need the President to understand that when you put a killer on death row, you also put their victim's families in limbo with the false promise that we must wait until there is an execution before we can begin to heal. Every time this case comes up, I am brought back to the day my mother and cousins were murdered, and I need that to stop."
"Politics has gotten in the way of mercy. You can't rank victims, Mr. President," she said. "I am begging you to finish the job, not only with the three men left on federal death row, but also with those on the military death row. There's still time. Finish the job."
Abraham Bonowitz, the executive director of Death Penalty Action, said in a statement to Newsweek: "Every person left on the federal and military death rows is being handed over to Donald Trump for execution.
"Death Penalty Action opposes the death penalty in all cases because it is a failed public policy any way you look at it. The danger of leaving the death penalty as an available tool for Donald Trump to use cannot be overstated. Donald Trump idolizes dictators and relishes dictator-like power.
"We are absolutely grateful for what President Biden has done, but we urge him to finish the job. Do not give Trump the power to execute anyone."
Paul O'Brien, executive director of Amnesty International USA, said in a statement provided to Newsweek that it was "disappointing" that the president did not commute the sentences of everyone on federal and military death row.
"We urge President Biden to go further and commute all existing death sentences," O'Brien said.
Martin Luther King III, human rights activist and son of Martin Luther King Jr., who had urged Biden to commute the sentences of those on federal death row, said in a statement provided to Newsweek that Biden "has done what no President before him was willing to do: take meaningful and lasting action not just to acknowledge the death penalty's racist roots but also to remedy its persistent unfairness."
Donnie Oliverio, a retired Ohio police officer whose partner was killed by one of the men whose death sentence was commuted, said in a statement provided to Newsweek that "putting to death the person who killed my police partner and best friend would have brought me no peace.
"The president has done what is right here, and what is consistent with the faith he and I share. Thank you, Mr. President."
What's Next
Trump will not be able to execute the 37 men whose death sentences Biden has commuted, since clemency decisions cannot be reversed by a president's successor.
As well as Roof, the two others excluded are Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the man convicted over the 2013 Boston Marathon bomb, and Robert Bowers, who killed congregants at Pittsburgh's Tree of Life Synagogue in 2018.
The three men left on federal death row have filed appeals and legal challenges to their death sentences, which have to be resolved before an execution date can be set.
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