Today, the Legal Defense Fund (LDF) joined partners across the civil and human rights movement to call on President Biden to use his remaining time in office to commute the sentences of all 40 individuals on federal death row. The federal death penalty suffers from the same irreparable failures that are endemic to the death penalty at the state level, including racial bias, ineffective legal assistance, and defendants executed with substantial intellectual disabilities and mental health issues. In fact, in a joint letter to President Biden, LDF and its partners point out that 38% of individuals currently on federal death row are Black, despite Black adults representing just 11.7% of the U.S. population.
An impending Trump administration poses an even greater threat to re-entrenching the federal death penalty and resuscitating federal executions. During his first presidency, President-Elect Trump executed more people than the previous ten administrations and he has vowed to continue this shameful spree. Conversely, as a candidate, President Biden pledged to end the federal death penalty. That is why it is critical President Biden take immediate action to commute the death sentences of all 40 men on federal death row.
Janai Nelson, LDF President and Director-Counsel, issued the following statement:
“History teaches that the death penalty in the United States is rooted in slavery lynchings and white vigilantism. From the youngest person executed in our history – a 14-year-old Black boy named George Stinney – to so many cases today, racial bias is an endemic, irreparable flaw in the administration of this ultimate punishment. It is also an arcane and barbaric practice that has no place in modern society.
“We expect the progress the Biden administration made toward limiting capital punishment to be upended in the next administration, as evidenced by the 13 horrific executions that were carried out by the first Trump administration in under one-year, with little to no respect for due process protections. President Biden has the constitutional authority to prevent this outcome, and we strongly urge him to use it to act boldly, decisively, and swiftly to commute the death sentences of all 40 men on federal death row. This is a moment for moral leadership and an opportunity for the President to define legacy by equitable redemption.”
###
Founded in 1940, the Legal Defense Fund (LDF) is the nation’s first civil rights law organization. LDF’s Thurgood Marshall Institute is a multi-disciplinary and collaborative hub within LDF that launches targeted campaigns and undertakes innovative research to shape the civil rights narrative. In media attributions, please refer to us as the Legal Defense Fund or LDF. Please note that LDF has been completely separate from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) since 1957 — although LDF was originally founded by the NAACP and shares its commitment to equal rights.
