Death penalty opponents took aim with blistering irony at President Biden for pardoning two Thanksgiving turkeys on Monday – reaching a total of eight reprieved during his presidency – while he has failed to use his powers to grant clemency to anyone on death row awaiting execution. “Biden’s days left in office are limited, but it’s not too late for him to spare everyone from federal death row (and cement his legacy for the better),” said he Prison Policy Initiative (IPPI), a group campaigning to end mass incarceration. "He has spared zero people from death row." The group is not asking Biden to pardon all 40 people awaiting capital punishment for federal crimes, but to commute their sentences to life in prison.
“Turkey pardons might be a light-hearted tradition, but it’s hard to not think about the dozens of people whose lives will be taken from them by a tax-payer-funded death – all while politicians tout the importance of festive goodwill,” PPI said. During his first presidency, Trump oversaw 13 of the 16 federal executions that have occurred since the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976 The other three occurred during George W Bush’s administration. Federal executions were paused under the Biden administration. Biden has issued pardons to 22 people convicted mainly on drug charges. In April 2022, he granted clemency to 75 people, including three pardons and 72 sentence commutations, but so far no mercy for anyone on federal death row. “We are worried about what will happen to people on death row in the next administration,” said PPI's Wanda Bertram.
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