What happened
President Joe Biden commuted the sentences of 37 of 40 prisoners on federal death row Monday, downgrading their punishment to life in prison without possibility of parole.
He left intact the death sentences of the men convicted of “terrorism and hate-motivated mass murder” in the 2015 Charleston church shooting, 2013 Boston Marathon bombing and 2018 massacre at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life Synagogue.
Who said what
“I condemn these murderers” and “ache” for the families of their victims, but “I am more convinced than ever that we must stop the use of the death penalty at the federal level,” Biden said. “In good conscience, I cannot stand back and let a new administration resume executions that I halted.”
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