Outgoing President Joe Biden has canceled the death penalty for 37 of the 40 people on the US federal death row. The death sentence was not canceled for the three. These three are—Dylan Roof, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and Robert Bowers.
In 2015, Dylann Roof killed nine black people in a racist attack at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, Newsweek reported Monday. He later admitted in court that his intention was to start a caste war.
A jury convicted Roof of 33 federal charges in 2016 and sentenced him to death in 2017.
Biden did not forgive Dzhokhar Tsarnaev either. The 2013 Boston Marathon bombing killed three and injured 264. The attack was carried out by Tsarnaev and his brother Tamerlan. Tamerlan was later killed in a shootout with the police. And Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was sentenced to death.
Meanwhile, in 2018, Robert Bowers killed 11 worshipers in a gun attack at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh. It is the deadliest anti-Semitic attack in US history.
In 2023, the court found Bowers guilty of 63 crimes and sentenced him to death.
Note that in 2021, Joe Biden issued a moratorium on the federal death penalty. He cited the new decision as part of his commitment to end the death penalty in the United States. However, this does not apply to cases of genocide involving terrorism and hate crimes.
Biden said, 'I hate these despicable criminals. But I want to waive this sentence with peace in my heart. Because I don't want the next administration to re-enact these executions.'
Abraham Bonowitz, executive director of US Death Penalty Action, commented, “Biden should completely abolish the death penalty so that Donald Trump cannot use the death penalty as a political tool.”
Joe Biden's decision has fueled debate over the future of the federal death penalty. Some people see the decision as an example of humanity, while others criticize it as an incomplete work.
