The prisoners will instead serve life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
Biden, who is an outspoken opponent of the death penalty, paused federal executions when he became president. At that time, the executions had been resumed in the summer of 2020 by Trump, who during his re-election campaign also promised to expand the use of the death penalty.
"My conscience does not allow me to let a new administration resume the executions I stopped," says Joe Biden in a statement. He means that the conversions "are in accordance with the moratorium introduced by my administration."
Among those who now have their sentences converted to life imprisonment are nine people who have been convicted of murdering fellow prisoners, four who have been convicted of murder during bank robberies, and one who killed a prison guard. The last three, who remain on death row, are individuals who have committed mass murder classified as hate or terrorist crimes.
"Do not misunderstand me: I condemn these murderers, mourn the victims of their heinous acts, and sympathize with the families who have suffered an unimaginable and irreparable loss," says Biden in the statement.
His decision has strong symbolic significance, but not as great an effect in practice – in the USA, most death sentences are handed down at the state level, not federally.
