President Joe Biden on Monday announced that he is commuting the sentences of 37 of the 40 people on federal death row, converting their punishments to life imprisonment just weeks before President-elect Donald Trump, an outspoken proponent of expanding capital punishment, takes office.
The move spares the lives of people convicted in killings, including the slayings of police and military officers, people on federal land and those involved in deadly bank robberies or drug deals, as well as the killings of guards or prisoners in federal facilities.
The decision leaves three federal inmates to face execution. They are Dylann Roof, who carried out the 2015 racist slayings of nine Black members of Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina; 2013 Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev; and Robert Bowers, who fatally shot 11 congregants at Pittsburgh’s Tree of life Synagogue in 2018, the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S history.
“I’ve dedicated my career to reducing violent crime and ensuring a fair and effective justice system,” Biden said in a statement. “Today, I am commuting the sentences of 37 of the 40 individuals on federal death row to life sentences without the possibility of parole. These commutations are consistent with the moratorium my administration has imposed on federal executions, in cases other than terrorism and hate-motivated mass murder.”
Are one's views supportive of capital punishment, or not?
I've often referred to liberalism as a snake that eats its own tail. Biden's recent announcement (let's be honest, this probably wasn't his idea) that he is commuting the sentences of 37 out of 40 is a perfect example of this. Either you're pro-death penalty, or you're not.
If one's position is "I'm against the death penalty, except when ..." then they are still pro-death penalty.
The primary consistency in liberal thought is that liberal thought is consistently inconsistent. This phenomenon can be observed over-and-over again in their social "isms."
The commutation of the afore mentioned death penalty cases doesn't shine a compassionate light on liberal virtue, rather it shows that lack of compassion and respect for justice concerning the victims of those who had their cases commuted. It marginalizes the crimes committed against those victims, as if to say, "it really wasn't that bad." It also show irrationality with regards to hypocrisy.
Liberals need to learn to take a hard position and stand on it. If you want to use your position of power to show that you are an opponent of the death penalty and are going to do all you can to abolish it, then do it by commuting all the sentences to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
I think a valid argument can be made regarding abolishing the death penalty. Primarily that the state itself becomes a hypocrite for murdering someone for murder. And, just simply put, that we as a civilized society are just better than that. But it's kinda hard to call out the opposition's hypocrisy with your own.
Anti-death penalty with an asterisk just means pro-death penalty.
Of note: This isn't to say that I think the 3 remaining men deserve to have their sentences commuted, nor that I support the 37 commutations. My critique is ideological, not personal.
God bless.
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