It is no secret that there are thousands of people on death row in the United States. Many people, especially Democratic lawmakers, feel as though the death penalty is a grave injustice in the criminal justice system and that it needs an alternative solution. As of lately, Democratic lawmakers have been urging the President to consider a more restorative justice approach when deciding how to handle the inmates on death row. Democratic representatives claim that by incorporating restorative policies, the criminal justice system will see a positive transformation as well a reversal of systemic injustices.
It is important to note that a commutation would not let prisoners get off easy by any means. A commutation would have prisoners sentences reduced but they would not be cleared of the charges or have to be released from prison. With that being said, the lawmakers advice to Biden was to replace the death sentences with sentences of life in prison. Democrats have been hard at work for a while in hopes of getting legislation passed to abolish the death penalty at the federal level. Although Biden has mentioned wanting to work with Congress in order to pass a law to eliminate capital punishment, realistically it will take months at the very least to see real change, that is if any laws end up being passed.
All of the controversy in regards to the death penalty got stirred up due to President Trump’s administration deciding to resume the practice after two decades of there being no federal executions. One of the executions was scheduled just days before Biden took office. The scheduling of executions not only in a transition period, but so late in a presidency raised criticism for Trump and his administration. Due to this, it is looking like Democrats will not be letting up on Biden until they see action being taken.
If you have any questions in regards to death row or death penalty legislation contact CIMA Law Group.
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