President Joe Biden’s recent commutations on federal death sentences have sparked significant attention, particularly due to the exclusion of three individuals, including Dylann Roof, the perpetrator of the 2015 Charleston church massacre. Roof, who carried out a hate-driven attack on nine Black parishioners at the Mother Emanuel AME Church in South Carolina, remains on death row while Biden commuted the sentences of 37 individuals, including 15 Black men, six Latinos, and one Asian.
Biden’s decision to grant commutations to 37 federal death row inmates came alongside his continued push to end the use of the death penalty in the U.S. He expressed that these commutations should not be mistaken as approval of the crimes for which the prisoners were convicted, but rather a decision to prevent their executions. The convictions of these individuals remain intact, despite their sentences being commuted.
The commutations include 22 prisoners from various racial backgrounds but notably exclude Roof, as well as Robert D. Bowers, the man responsible for the 2018 Pittsburgh synagogue shooting, and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, one of the perpetrators of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing. Roof’s exclusion, in particular, has drawn attention, with some speculating that under a future administration, particularly that of former President Donald Trump, Roof could face execution.
Biden’s administration first imposed a moratorium on federal executions in 2021 through the Department of Justice. The president emphasized his condemnation of the horrific acts committed by these prisoners, acknowledging the immense grief caused to their victims’ families.
Civil rights organizations have widely supported Biden’s commutation decision. Derrick Johnson, President and CEO of the NAACP, expressed pride in the Biden administration’s actions, stating that this move sets an important precedent in combating extremist rhetoric and policies. The NAACP has long advocated for the abolition of the death penalty, highlighting its disproportionate impact on Black Americans.
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Janai Nelson, President and Director-Counsel of the Legal Defense Fund, also commended the commutations, calling them a significant step toward addressing the death penalty’s racial disparities and its failure as an effective form of punishment. Both Johnson and Nelson have called for similar actions at the state level, urging Biden to extend his power to commute sentences for those impacted by racial inequities, particularly those involved in the “War on Drugs.”
The pressure for sweeping commutations grew after Biden’s recent pardon of his son, Hunter Biden, over tax and gun-related convictions. Civil rights groups, including over 430 human rights organizations, sent letters to Biden advocating for further action.
Biden’s commutations mark the highest number granted by any first-term president since Richard Nixon. However, the exclusion of Roof and others like him raises questions about the future of federal death penalty cases. While Roof’s appeal process was declined by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2021, there are still legal avenues for him to continue challenging his sentence, leaving the timeline for his execution uncertain.
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