Death-penalty chess in advance of a presidential transition

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On Monday, President Joe Biden announced his decision to commute the death sentences of 37 of the 40 people who currently populate federal death row. It wasn’t a profile in courage so much as a statement of principle and a very belated campaign promise kept.

But let’s dispense with the obvious. Biden’s commutations reveal a president who appears to struggle somewhat with his own feelings toward capital punishment. As he exits office, he leaves a legacy of stopping federal executions while retaining a bullet in the chamber. He wants it both ways. In some respects, that’s the uncomfortable space where many Americans find themselves. From the days of the guillotine and the medieval savagery of drawing and quartering, the practice of the death penalty has never been exact nor an infallible science.

Among those who had a death sentence commuted to life in prison is Kaboni Savage, a Philadelphia drug dealer who was convicted of killing a dozen people. The murders included four children, who died in a firebombing of their home when Savage ordered the attack to neutralize an adult witness scheduled to testify against him.

Others who received commutations included a man who shot and killed a Columbus, Ohio, police officer while attempting to rob a bank; a man who kidnapped and murdered a 12-year-old girl, and a man who broke into the room of a Navy petty officer and strangled her as she slept.

“In good conscience, I cannot stand back and let a new administration resume executions that I halted,” Biden said when announcing the commutations.

“Make no mistake: I condemn these murderers, grieve for the victims of their despicable acts, and ache for all the families who have suffered unimaginable and irreparable loss.

“But guided by my conscience and experience as a public defender, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, vice president, and now president, I am more convinced than ever that we must stop the use of the death penalty at the federal level.”

What is most telling about Biden’s commutations, however, are the three mass killers to whom he declined to extend clemency, and the reason offered: domestic terrorism and hate-motivated killings. These three killers are:

President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to resume and expand the federal death-penalty apparatus when he returns to office next month. There’s absolutely no reason not to take him at his word.

So where does the current moral calculus leave a nation regarding capital punishment?

More than 70% of the world’s nations have rejected the death penalty in either law or practice, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. According to the center, America remains an outlier on the world stage, joining nations like Iran, Saudi Arabia and China that routinely carry out executions.

Currently, 27 American states retain capital punishment laws, with just a handful of counties delivering the bulk of death-penalty sentences.

While most Americans back capital punishment for those who commit crimes like murder, such support has dropped appreciably in recent years, according to the Pew Research Center. Most Americans also have concerns about the fairness of the penalty and whether it serves as a deterrent, according to Pew.

Time will quickly tell whether that trend continues. While the overwhelming majority of our nation’s executions have occurred at the state level in recent years, the incoming administration has sent notice: The American executioner will remain gainfully employed despite Biden’s parting commutations.