President Biden has commuted the death sentences of 37 federally-convicted murderers, leaving only three prisoners remaining on federal death row. The three whose death sentences were not commuted were passed over because their crimes were motivated by either political causes or racial animus. The 37 whose death sentences were commuted included multiple serial killer rapists.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/12/23/fact-sheet-president-biden-commutes-the-sentences-of-37-individuals-on-death-row/
The White House press release declared the commutations motivated by Biden's belief in the wrongness of the death penalty and that under current federal prosecutorial policy, the previously condemned convicts would not have received those sentences today.
I don't agree that it serves the interest of society to punish politically or bigotry motivated murderers more harshly than murderers whose victims suffered much worse from cruel additional abuse such as sexual abuse or torture. Cruelty is ultimately responsible for incomparably more suffering than racism or political extremism. I cannot see any higher social good through capital punishment than deterring the most extreme private acts of cruelty imaginable (insofar as the death penalty is really effective as a deterrent).
This is separate from the question of whether the death penalty is itself ethical given that its error rate is known to be non-negligible (estimated by a National Academy of Sciences study at 4%) and its application is known to be biased by race and class. IF the death penalty is going to be legal, I oppose the Biden administration's choice of which categories of murders should warrant execution.
My sympathies are with the victims' loved ones who spent years waiting for these sentences to be carried out only to have the carpet ripped from under them. The only silver lining is that this means closure for them as regards the judicial system. They no longer have to torture themselves by following the appeals process. Politically speaking, they'll know which party to blame.
Exactly what are the Democrats trying to accomplish here politically? They're supposed to be pragmatic when it comes to the intersection of ideals and politics. Where is the political pragmatism in plucking heinous murderers from the gallows? Doesn't common sense tell them the public will hate this? I refuse to believe they would purposefully do anything which was politically bad for them in order to promote ideal justice so they must believe this benefits them somehow but it defies my limited comprehension.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/12/23/fact-sheet-president-biden-commutes-the-sentences-of-37-individuals-on-death-row/
The White House press release declared the commutations motivated by Biden's belief in the wrongness of the death penalty and that under current federal prosecutorial policy, the previously condemned convicts would not have received those sentences today.
I don't agree that it serves the interest of society to punish politically or bigotry motivated murderers more harshly than murderers whose victims suffered much worse from cruel additional abuse such as sexual abuse or torture. Cruelty is ultimately responsible for incomparably more suffering than racism or political extremism. I cannot see any higher social good through capital punishment than deterring the most extreme private acts of cruelty imaginable (insofar as the death penalty is really effective as a deterrent).
This is separate from the question of whether the death penalty is itself ethical given that its error rate is known to be non-negligible (estimated by a National Academy of Sciences study at 4%) and its application is known to be biased by race and class. IF the death penalty is going to be legal, I oppose the Biden administration's choice of which categories of murders should warrant execution.
My sympathies are with the victims' loved ones who spent years waiting for these sentences to be carried out only to have the carpet ripped from under them. The only silver lining is that this means closure for them as regards the judicial system. They no longer have to torture themselves by following the appeals process. Politically speaking, they'll know which party to blame.
Exactly what are the Democrats trying to accomplish here politically? They're supposed to be pragmatic when it comes to the intersection of ideals and politics. Where is the political pragmatism in plucking heinous murderers from the gallows? Doesn't common sense tell them the public will hate this? I refuse to believe they would purposefully do anything which was politically bad for them in order to promote ideal justice so they must believe this benefits them somehow but it defies my limited comprehension.
