Death Sentence Commutations Contribute to Biden's Legacy as Champion of Justice
NATIONAL URBAN LEAGUE: DEATH SENTENCE COMMUTATIONS CONTRIBUTE TO BIDEN'S LEGACY AS A CHAMPION OF JUSTICE, CIVIL RIGHTS, AND RACIAL RECONCILIATION
NEW YORK (December 23, 2024) — National Urban League President and CEO Marc H. Morial said President Biden's decision to commute the sentences of 37 people facing execution will contribute to his legacy as a champion of justice, civil rights, and racial reconciliation.
"The death penalty has already ensnared hundreds of innocent defendants," Morial said. "The National Urban League has long opposed the death penalty in all cases. The death penalty has proven to be wildly discriminatory in every aspect. This is true in the federal system, just as in the states.
"President Biden has acknowledged the racially disparate impact of the death penalty and committed to ending it on the federal level. His Department of Justice paused executions, a welcome reprieve after the first Trump administration’s gruesome execution spree.
"The cases of the 37 men whose lives have been spared manifest all the profound flaws that inevitably mar the death penalty, including significant racial disparities," Morial said, noting that Black Americans are seven times more likely to be falsely convicted of serious crimes compared to white Americans. "They include those prosecuted by almost exclusively white attorneys and convicted by all-white juries. They include the intellectually disabled, seriously mental ill or brain damaged, those who face execution though they did not personally kill anyone; and people whose convictions or death sentences were secured through the use of misleading or unreliable scientific evidence.
"Just as we see in the states, those under federal death sentence are impaired and vulnerable individuals trapped under the weight of a broken system," Morial said. "As long as the death penalty remains in use, we risk executing innocent people.
"President Biden is a man of faith, courage, and principle. His historic decision to commuting the federal death row manifests all of those qualities."