FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — On Tuesday, President-elect Donald Trump announced his plan to push for the death penalty as soon as he takes office. This comes in response to President Joe Biden’s recent decision to commute the sentences of most federal death row inmates, sparking a heated debate over the use of capital punishment.
Biden, who on Monday changed the sentences of 37 out of 40 federal death row inmates to life in prison without parole, explained his decision as part of a broader effort to uphold the current moratorium on federal executions. He emphasized that exceptions to the moratorium would only apply in cases of terrorism or hate-fueled mass murders. The move, Biden said, reflects a more humane approach to justice.
Trump, however, strongly disagrees. Taking to his social media platform, he criticized Biden’s actions, calling them an insult to the families of the victims. “Joe Biden just commuted the death sentences of 37 of the worst killers in our country,” Trump wrote. “When you hear what they did, you won’t believe it. This makes no sense. Families and friends of the victims are devastated.”
Historically, presidents don’t directly dictate the sentences prosecutors pursue, but Trump has always pushed for more control over such decisions. On Tuesday, he reiterated his intent to direct the Justice Department to seek the death penalty for violent crimes, although he was vague about the specifics. He mentioned targeting “violent rapists, murderers, and monsters” while highlighting two particularly gruesome cases.
One of the highlighted cases involves Jorge Avila Torrez, a former Marine who was sentenced to death for murdering a Navy sailor in Virginia. Torrez also admitted to stabbing two young girls to death in a park near Chicago years earlier. The other case features Thomas Steven Sanders, who was sentenced to death for the kidnapping and murder of a 12-year-old girl in Louisiana after killing the girl’s mother in Arizona.
These decisions have left many people divided. Some families of victims are furious over Biden’s commutations, seeing them as a betrayal of justice. Advocacy groups like the ACLU and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, on the other hand, praised Biden for his bold move to reduce the federal use of capital punishment.
Trump’s stance on the death penalty is nothing new. On the campaign trail, he repeatedly called for expanding its use, suggesting it could apply to police killers, drug traffickers, and even migrants who commit murder in the U.S. However, legal experts believe turning those ideas into reality would be extremely difficult. “This seems more like rhetoric right now,” said Douglas Berman, a sentencing expert from Ohio State University. “It’s Trump’s way of signaling he supports the death penalty, but making it happen is a whole other challenge.”
The broader public opinion on capital punishment has also shifted over the years. Once widely supported, approval for the death penalty has steadily declined. While about half of Americans still support it, this is a significant drop from the nearly 70% who did in the early 2000s, according to Gallup polling.
Although Trump has big plans, it’s important to note that most death penalty cases in the U.S. are handled by state governments, not the federal system. With over 2,000 inmates on state death rows compared to just 40 in the federal system, Trump’s proposed changes may have limited impact unless he tries to expand federal jurisdiction.
Biden, for his part, left three federal death row inmates untouched by his commutations: Dylann Roof, responsible for the 2015 church massacre in Charleston, South Carolina; Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev; and Robert Bowers, who carried out the 2018 synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh. These cases involve acts of terrorism and hate crimes, which Biden has said fall outside the scope of his moratorium.
As this debate unfolds, Americans will continue to grapple with tough questions about justice, fairness, and how best to handle the most heinous crimes. Whether Trump’s promises turn into action or remain political posturing, the nation is watching closely.
