A day after Joe Biden commuted the death sentences of most federal death row inmates, Donald Trump said he would direct the Justice Department to “vigorously” pursue the death penalty for perpetrators of violent crimes.
In a post on Truth Social, the president-elect said that once he takes office next month, he will “encourage the Department of Justice to aggressively pursue the death penalty to protect America’s families and children from violent rapists, murderers, and monsters.” I will give instructions.”
“We will be a nation of law and order again!” Trump added.
President Trump will not be able to overturn Biden’s recent commutation. Thirty-seven federal death row inmates received commutations, but three death sentences remained in place. The three men belong to Robert Bowers, the man convicted in the Tree of Life Synagogue shooting. Dylann Roof convicted of shooting at Mother Emanuel AME Church. and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who was convicted of the Boston Marathon bombings.
While opponents of the death penalty praised the president’s decision, opponents of the death penalty also criticized the measure.
Donnie Oliverio, the partner of Ohio police officer Brian Hurst, who was killed by an inmate whose death sentence was commuted, said the killer’s execution “would not have brought me peace.”
Mr. Hearst’s widow, Marissa Gibson, said in a statement to the Columbus Dispatch that Mr. Biden’s move is alarming and a “complete dismissal and undermining of the federal judicial system.”
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In the Dylann Roof case, Pastor Sharon Risher, a family member of several of the nine victims killed at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina in 2015, called Biden’s decision “unfair.” He urged them to “get the job done.” The sentences of the remaining three will be commuted.
“Mr. President, you can’t rank victims,” Risher, president of Death Penalty Action, told Newsweek. “I want you to finish the job, not just the three people left on federal death row, but also the military death row inmates. There’s still time. Finish the job.”
Biden, an opponent of the death penalty, said he could not allow the new administration to resume executions as President Trump promised during his campaign. During President Trump’s first term, 13 federal prisoners were put to death.
Biden’s decision to commute 37 death sentences prompted angry reactions from his predecessor and successor in the White House.
“Joe Biden just commuted the death sentences of 37 of our nation’s worst murderers,” President Trump said in a post shortly after the verdict was announced. “When you hear each act, you can’t believe he did this. It makes no sense. Relatives and friends are even more devastated.”
