Since FADP reached out to you last month with our petition asking President Biden to commute death row, pressure for President Biden to do so has increased. The conversation has grown in both traditional and social media. More voices have been included. President Biden came into office demonstrating some interest in taking action on the federal death penalty, but as we near the end of his four year term, mere weeks remain for him to make an impact.
During President Trump’s first presidential term, he carried out 13 executions in just seven months — and he was the first to carry out the federal death penalty in 17 years. If President Biden does not commute the sentences of the forty prisoners on federal death row, he will leave an opportunity for President Trump to continue the executions when he enters office.
Please, if you haven’t yet, sign the petition. Share with other people. Add weight to the voices calling for President Biden to take action. There is far more at stake here than the political fortunes of one party or another, and we cannot allow for the death penalty to become a polarized, partisan issue.
– Armando
Press Conference and Congressional Hearing Today
The office of Representative Ayana Pressley held a press conference today on this issue, asking President Biden to commute the row. See the recording, here. Pictured speaking is death row exoneree Shujaa Graham. Death row exoneree, Executive Director of Witness to Innocence, and Board Chair of FADP Herman Lindsey is on the left.
Keep watch on FADP’s social media pages for links to a congressional briefing also taking place today.