Under pressure from human rights organisations, US President Joe Biden finally commuted the sentences of 37 death row inmates.
Biden made the move less than a month before Donald Trump, a supporter of the death penalty, returned to the White House, AFP reports.
All of these individuals were convicted by the US federal court system, which is different from individual state court systems.
In early December, more than 130 organizations, including the influential civil rights group ACLU and Amnesty International USA, reminded Joe Biden of his 2020 campaign promise against the death penalty and welcomed the moratorium on executions in the federal justice system enacted in May 2021 by his administration.
The organisations had said they feared a "wave of executions" after his successor Donald Trump took office.
"I am commuting the sentences of 37 of the 40 individuals sentenced to death in the federal system to life in prison without the possibility of early release", Joe Biden announced.
The US president stated that the commuted sentences were "consistent with (his) administration's moratorium on federal executions in cases other than terrorism and mass killings motivated by hate."
Nine of the individuals who avoided the death penalty thanks to the Democrat president's measure were convicted of murdering other prisoners. Four others committed murders during bank robberies, and another killed a prison guard.
"Make no mistake: I condemn these murderers, mourn the victims of their dastardly deeds, and sympathize with all the families who are suffering unimaginable and irreparable loss," Joe Biden wrote.
"But guided by my conscience and experience, I am more convinced than ever that we must end the use of the death penalty at the federal level," he added. | BGNES
