USA Trump wants to campaign for the death penalty as president
US President-elect Donald Trump has sharply criticized incumbent Joe Biden's decision to commute the death sentences of dozens of criminals to life imprisonment. "When you hear what everybody did, you won't believe they did it," Trump said on his Truth Social platform. "It doesn't make sense."
24.12.2024, 18:35
SDA
The Republican announced that he would instruct the Department of Justice to "consistently pursue the death penalty" once he took office. "American families and children must be protected from violent rapists, murderers and monsters", explained Trump. During the election campaign, he had repeatedly spoken out in favor of tougher enforcement of the death penalty - including for migrants who have killed US citizens or police officers.
37 death row inmates receive life sentences
On Monday, Biden commuted the sentences of 37 death row inmates convicted under federal law to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. However, he specifically excluded three of the 40 federal convicts from commutation because their crimes involved terrorism or hate-motivated mass murder - including Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.
The Catholic Democrat explained that he had made the decision for reasons of conscience, based on his many years of experience as a public defender and politician. He emphasized that he did not want to belittle the suffering of the victims and their families.
Biden also justified the decision on the assumption that a moratorium he initiated in July 2021 would likely be lifted under the incoming administration - executions at federal level were thus suspended.
13 executions at federal level under Trump
At the beginning of Trump's first term in office (2017 to 2021), no executions were carried out at federal level either. There has been a de facto pause since 2003. Shortly before the end of his term in office, however, Trump resumed executions and carried out 13 executions within a few months - more than any US president in decades.
The death penalty is still permitted in the USA at federal level, in the military and in 27 states, but is not carried out everywhere. Presidents can only pardon federal prisoners; state death sentences remain unaffected. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, there are currently more than 2,000 people on death row in US prisons.
A slight majority of Americans still support the death penalty. However, doubts due to miscarriages of justice, discrimination and unequal legal representation are steadily eroding support.
