Nearly a decade has passed since a white supremacist opened fire in a South Carolina church during a Bible study, claiming the lives of nine individuals, including the mother of Rev. Sharon Risher, two of her cousins, and a childhood friend.

When Dylann Roof was sentenced to death in 2017, Risher initially felt he deserved that punishment. However, as time went on and her faith deepened, she discovered a path to forgiveness. She became aware of broader problems with the death penalty, such as racial inequities and the lack of evidence that it effectively deters violent crime. This led her to actively advocate for a campaign aimed at sparing Roof’s life and the lives of all men on federal death row, including notable cases like Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, convicted for the Boston Marathon bombing, and Robert Bowers, sentenced for the 2018 mass shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh.

As a member of the board for Death Penalty Action, Risher personally delivered a letter to the White House in June, asking President Joe Biden to commute the sentences of these prisoners, but went without a reply. Following the November election victory of former President Donald Trump, her nonprofit sent a second letter co-signed by 350 organizations, yet there was still no response. Risher’s group is planning to send a fourth letter next month as the deadline approaches for Biden to potentially grant clemency.

Supporters like Risher are pushing for life sentences for these inmates, especially since during the last six months of his first term, Trump expedited the executions of 13 individuals. No federal executions have taken place during Biden’s presidency, which concludes on January 20, 2025.

“We fear that if Biden does not take action, those tragic events could be repeated,” Risher expressed.

Death Penalty Action is one of many advocacy organizations urging Biden to honor his campaign pledge to abolish the federal death penalty and stop Trump from initiating further executions. They have persistently reached out to Biden through letters, petitions, and protests, seeking to commute the sentences of all 40 men currently on federal death row. (Notably, the last woman executed on federal death row was killed merely eight days prior to Trump leaving office.) While there have been instances of mass last-minute commutations at both state and federal levels, Biden’s history with clemency remains uncertain regarding whether he will intervene.

“He definitely has the power to commute all of those sentences,” noted Rachel Barkow, a law professor at New York University who specializes in presidential clemency. “However, it’s uncertain if he will do so.”

Trump Administration’s Unprecedented Execution Pace

During his previous time in office, Trump took a strict stance on the death penalty. Attorney General William Barr stated after the first executions were set in 2019, “The Justice Department upholds the rule of law – and we owe it to the victims and their families to execute the sentences imposed by our justice system.”

The Trump administration reintroduced federal executions after a 17-year hiatus, carrying out 13 executions during its term, a remarkable feat that persisted even amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Among the individuals executed were Daniel Lewis Lee, the first federal convict executed since 2003, and Lisa Montgomery, the only woman on death row, marking the first execution of a woman in nearly seven decades.

While on the campaign trail, Trump advocated for an expanded use of the death penalty as punishment for drug dealers, human traffickers, child rapists, and migrants who allegedly kill U.S. citizens or law enforcement officials. The Trump transition team did not provide a comment regarding their policies for the upcoming term.

In 2008, the Supreme Court ruled against a Louisiana law that permitted the death penalty for cases of child sexual abuse, citing a national consensus that capital punishment should only apply to the most severe crimes.

Most federal death penalty cases involve murder, with a few exceptions like espionage and treason, according to Robin Maher, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center. To expand the criteria for federal death sentences, Trump would require the consent of Congress.

Maher stated that “Some of his proposals are legally questionable at best, and I expect there will be some opposition to any attempts to broaden the death penalty beyond its current scope.”

Biden’s Position on Capital Punishment: Consistently Inconsistent

Biden promised on his campaign website that he would work towards eliminating the federal death penalty and encourage states to follow suit. He made history by being the first sitting president to reject the death penalty.

However, Biden hasn’t actively championed the bill put forward by Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-MA, and Sen. Dick Durbin, D-IL, aimed at ending the federal death penalty, according to Austin Sarat, a jurisprudence and political science professor at Amherst College.

“His track record is mixed,” Sarat explained, adding, “While the rhetoric has been strong, the actual achievements have not aligned with those statements.”

In 2021, Attorney General Merrick Garland placed a hold on federal executions, effectively setting aside the death penalty in over two dozen cases that the Trump administration had cleared for execution.

A report from the Death Penalty Information Center indicates that the federal death penalty system carries many of the same issues as state systems. Since 1989, around 75% of those prosecuted for the federal death penalty have been people of color, and often, federal capital trials feature all-white or predominantly white juries.

Despite this, federal prosecutors have continued to contest appeals from death row inmates and pursue new death sentences in a limited number of cases, including the case of Bowers and a man responsible for the 2022 racially motivated massacre of ten Black individuals at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York.

Attorney Terry Connors, who represents several victims from Buffalo in civil litigation, shared with local media that opinions about the shooter’s potential execution vary among his clients.

Connors mentioned to Spectrum News, “There was division. Some believed life imprisonment was the suitable punishment. They prefer he remain there to face the consequences, while others felt the maximum punishment was warranted in this situation. If not in this case, then when?”

Sarat observed that Garland’s move to pursue the death penalty in specific cases was a choice made independently, and Biden might have opted not to interfere with the Justice Department’s autonomy.

Nonetheless, Sarat concluded, “The only consistent aspect of Biden’s death penalty stance is its inconsistency.”

Last-Minute Reprieves are Common

According to Barkow from NYU, it’s typical for outgoing executives to issue numerous commutations, including for death row inmates.

Several governors have previously cleared their state’s death row, such as Oregon’s Gov. Kate Brown in 2022, Colorado’s Gov. Jared Polis in 2020, Illinois’s Gov. George Ryan in 2003, and New Mexico’s Gov. Toney Anaya in 1986.

At the federal level, the practice of offering pardons for death row inmates dates back to the nation’s founding, with President George Washington forgiving two individuals sentenced to death for their involvement in the Whiskey Rebellion. In modern times, President Barack Obama granted clemency to a federal inmate with an intellectual disability and commuted the sentence of a military death row inmate, as noted by Maher from the Death Penalty Information Center.

Maher commented, “It would not be unusual for him to take such action,” referring to Biden.

What’s Next for Biden?

The White House has yet to respond to YSL News’s inquiry regarding Biden’s intentions regarding federal death sentences.

While Biden hasn’t addressed her group’s appeal, Krisanne Vaillancourt Murphy, the executive director of Catholic Mobilizing Network, expressed optimism that, being a fellow Catholic, he might take action.

Murphy stated, “I just hope and pray that he recognizes this chance to utilize his constitutional powers and also align with something truly significant given his religious beliefs.”

Sarat from Amherst pointed out that Biden has numerous issues he vowed to tackle before his term ends. Recognizing that public support for the death penalty has reached historic lows, Sarat remarked, “We are currently in a national reassessment of capital punishment.”

He added, “Biden may have more political leeway for a mass commutation than one might believe.”

President Biden has granted federal pardons to individuals convicted of marijuana offenses and military veterans who were found guilty under a law that prohibited homosexual relations, but his overall rate of granting clemency is rather low, as noted by Barkow from NYU. “It’s been disappointing. I would personally rate his performance around a D,” she remarked.

As he approaches the conclusion of a 50-year political journey, Biden may be contemplating his legacy, according to Barkow. Exercising his unique authority to grant a blanket commutation would signal his ethical stance against capital punishment broadly, rather than regarding a singular case, she added.

“Issuing commutations to all individuals on death row, switching their sentences to life without parole, would signify a strong legacy statement against the death penalty,” Barkow stated.