WASHINGTON: US President-elect Donald Trump said on Tuesday he will direct his Justice Department to “vigorously pursue” the death penalty to protect Americans from “violent rapists, murderers, and monsters” when he takes power on Jan 20.

Trump hit out at President Joe Biden for commuting the sentences of almost every American federal prisoner on death row. “Joe Biden just commuted the Death Sentence on 37 of the worst killers in our Country,” Trump posted on Truth Social, his social media platform.

“When you hear the acts of each, you won’t believe that he did this. Makes no sense. Relatives and friends are further devastated. They can’t believe this is happening!”

Trump’s statement was in response to Biden’s announcement on Monday that he had commuted the sentences of 37 out of 40 federal inmates on death row, converting them to life in prison without parole.

“As soon as I am inaugurated, I will direct the Justice Department to vigorously pursue the death penalty to protect American families and children from violent rapists, murderers, and monsters,” Trump said.

Trump restarted federal executions during his first term in office from 2017 to 2021 after a nearly 20-year pause.

Biden, who ran for president opposing the death penalty, put federal executions on hold when he took office in January 2021.

Unlike executive orders, clemency decisions cannot be reversed by a president’s successor, although the death penalty can be sought more aggressively in future cases.

The Trump transition team on Monday had denounced Biden’s decision, calling it abhorrent and favouring convicts who are “among the worst killers in the world”.

Published in Dawn, December 25th, 2024