Biden brings hope to opponents of capital punishment

There are over 2,500 inmates on death row in the U.S. President Joe Biden has the power to either delay their executions or commute their sentences. Graphic by HARRY LADA, Art Director

President Joe Biden is the first presidential candidate in modern U.S. history to openly oppose the death penalty on the campaign trail and win. This comes in stark contrast with the six death row inmates executed under former President Donald Trump’s lame-duck period — breaking a 130-year-old trend of presidents withholding executions after a new president-elect is announced.

Additionally, federal executions under Trump’s presidency skyrocketed in 2020. From July 2020 to Jan. 16, 2021 — four days before Biden’s inauguration — there were 13 federal executions, a figure unmatched in modern history, as they totaled more than the federal executions carried out in the last 71 years combined. From 2000 to 2019, only three federal executions were performed.

Chapman University law professor Scott Howe, a former public defender of death row inmates and opponent of the death penalty, said the Trump administration’s executions were to make a statement.

“For the administration to have executed 13 people was really an effort to make a statement about the belief in the death penalty,” Howe said. “The problem is, it’s inconsistent with all the trends regarding the use of the death penalty; the death penalty has gone down in both number of death sentences and number of executions in the last 20 years.”

Biden pledges to reform the U.S. criminal justice system with a commitment to justice, an undertaking that includes federal capital punishment reform. Looking at the state level, Biden’s campaign website also clarifies his administration will incentivize states to follow future federal legislation that bans the death penalty.  

Some lawmakers and activists are calling on Biden to fulfill the assurances he made during his presidential campaign. On Jan. 22, Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) and Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) sent a letter — bolstered by the signatures of 35 House of Representative Democrats — to the Biden administration. This letter urged Biden to “correct these injustices using every tool available, including the extraordinary power to grant clemency.” 

Newly equipped with the powers of the presidency, Howe suspects Biden may, like former president Barack Obama, impose a moratorium on the death penalty — meaning all federal executions would be temporarily suspended. Beyond that, Biden could commute the 49 federal death row prisoners, which would reduce their sentences. 

The Panther surveyed 201 people and found that 13% of respondents support the death penalty while 87% oppose capital punishment.

Nationally, however, a 2020 Gallup poll demonstrated approximately 55% of people support the death penalty for a person convicted of murder, while 43% oppose. Gallup reported that these numbers reflect the highest level of opposition toward capital punishment since 1996, when 47% of Americans expressed disapproval.

Isabella Sills, a sophomore computer science major who responded to The Panther’s poll, doesn’t support the death penalty. Although she has never personally experienced a crime committed against a family member or loved one, she expressed she would never wish death upon someone.

“Someone should definitely serve their time, but I don’t think we have the right to take away other people’s lives, no matter how bad the crime was,” Sills said. “That’s what jail is for.”

The results determined through The Panther’s survey illustrated that the death penalty is largely opposed by Chapman students, despite more evenly split national polls. However, arguments in favor of capital punishment still persist. 

“There are really two arguments,” Howe said. “One is that (the death penalty) deters murders, as it’s only been imposed in murder cases. This is hotly debated. The other argument is what philosophers would say is about right and wrong, justice, and that people have done things so bad they deserve the death penalty.”

Both sides of the issue continue to be debated. But with a new administration now in office, some are cautiously hopeful that capital punishment reform may finally take place.