The death penalty in America is a broken process from start to finish. President Biden commuted the sentences of 37 people on federal death row, moving us one step closer to ending this heinous practice once and for all.
PORTLAND – The American Civil Liberties Union of Maine applauds President Biden’s historic commutation of 37 federal death sentences. Those affected will have their sentences changed to life imprisonment. By taking this action, President Biden has taken an unequivocal stand against one of the most flawed and inhumane mechanisms in the U.S. criminal legal system.
Biden’s groundbreaking action comes after hundreds of organizations across the political and faith spectrums – including more than 130 civil and human rights organizations, faith leaders, exonerees, family members of victims, and law enforcement officials – called on the president to commute federal death row.
“The death penalty in America is a broken process from start to finish,” said ACLU of Maine Executive Director Molly Curren Rowles. “The death penalty is not justice, and state-sanctioned killing does not make us safer. The death penalty inherently violates constitutional protections against cruel and unusual punishment. Moreover, data demonstrates that death sentences are often determined not by the severity of a crime, but by the quality of the defense lawyers, the race of the accused or the victim, and where the crime occurred. Today’s actions move us one step closer to ending this heinous practice once and for all.”
In 2020, President Biden made history as the first president to openly oppose the death penalty. Biden also implemented a moratorium on federal executions.
Read national Executive Director Anthony Romero’s statement here.
