President Joe Biden has commuted the sentences of 37 federal death row inmates, reclassifying their penalties to life without parole. The announcement, made by the White House on Monday, follows Biden’s recent clemency initiative, which granted commutations to nearly 1,500 individuals in the largest single-day grant of clemency in U.S. history.

The decision impacts a majority of the 40 inmates on federal death row, leaving three exceptions: Robert Bowers, the gunman behind the 2018 Tree of Life Synagogue mass shooting that killed 11 people; Dylann Roof, the White supremacist who murdered nine Black churchgoers in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015; and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who participated in the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing that killed three and injured hundreds.

I am commuting the sentences of 37 individuals on federal death row to life sentences without the possibility of parole.

This action is consistent with my Administration's moratorium on federal executions, except for cases involving terrorism and hate-motivated mass murder. pic.twitter.com/Obxfytxxbb

— President Biden (@POTUS) December 23, 2024

The spared inmates include individuals convicted of a range of violent crimes, such as murders of law enforcement officers, children, and witnesses. Among them are drug lord Kaboni Savage, responsible for 12 murders, including an arson that killed six members of a federal informant’s family, and Julius Robinson, who killed two people in drug-related incidents. Others committed bank robberies, kidnappings, or killed fellow prisoners, Fox reports.

Biden has justified the move as aligning with evolving federal policies and ensuring that the incoming Trump administration, following Biden’s exit from office, cannot carry out executions that conflict with current practices. The president has consistently expressed his opposition to capital punishment, except in cases of terrorism and hate-driven mass murders.

Biden’s commutations are an act of deep injustice, political opportunism, & cowardice. He lets 37 heinous murderers dodge their just sentences, but belies any semblance of principle when keeping more politically-unpalatable monsters like the Boston Marathon Bomber on death row. pic.twitter.com/DArNtW6UVj

— Jerry Dunleavy IV 🇺🇸 (@JerryDunleavy) December 23, 2024

Since taking office, Biden has declared a moratorium on federal executions, marking a sharp contrast to his predecessor and succesor Donald Trump, who resumed federal executions after a nearly two-decade pause.

Critics of Biden’s decision have raised concerns over the severity of crimes committed by the spared inmates, with some lawmakers on both sides of the aisle questioning the broader implications for justice and public safety.

To date, Biden has commuted sentences for 1,634 individuals and issued 65 pardons during his presidency, a figure that outpaces his recent predecessors at the same point in their terms.