Biden commutes death sentences of child killers and mass murderers 2 days before Christmas
By Steven Nelson
Published Dec. 23, 2024, 5:00 a.m. ET
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President Biden on Monday commuted the sentences of 37 of 40 men on federal death row — a list that includes at least five child killers and several mass murderers — in a stunning act of clemency just two days before Christmas.
Biden, 82, gave the reprieve to the nation’s most violent murderers — nine of whom were found too dangerous to live after butchering fellow inmates — as part of his effort at “ensuring a fair and effective justice system,” the White House said.
President Joe Biden speaks during a Hanukkah reception in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Dec. 16, 2024. 7
President Biden speaks during a Hanukkah reception in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on Dec. 16, 2024. AP
“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,” Biden said in a statement.
“But guided by my conscience and my experience as a public defender, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Vice President, and now President, I am more convinced than ever that we must stop the use of the death penalty at the federal level. In good conscience, I cannot stand back and let a new administration resume executions that I halted.”
Biden, who opposes the death penalty, lowered each of the 37 sentences to life in prison without parole. He did not say why specifically he considered the original penalties unjust.
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If he commuted EVERYONE, then I could believe that this is his moral decision. (Which BTW I’d agree with!) By his other actions, killing people and not extending commutation to everyone, I doubt his sincerity.
Some of these commutations cover a convict that is too dangerous to keep confined. (This is my exception to the “no death penalty” policy.)
So, I don’t understand his partial view of morality. And, he doesn’t explain his “in good conscience” rationale.
Befuddled and befuddling.
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Reinke Faces Life 