December 20, 2024
The Honorable Joseph R. Biden, Jr.
President of the United States
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, D.C. 20500
Dear President Biden:
We, the undersigned faith-based organizations, write to urge you to use the weeks remaining in your administration to commute all federal death sentences and prevent the likelihood that the incoming administration will resume executions. Your recent commutation of the sentences of nearly 1,500 people was a critical act to rectify the injustice of harsh punishments. We ask that you now act again for justice and empty death row.
The signatories to this letter include both members of the Interfaith Criminal Justice Coalition (ICJC), a diverse alliance of faith communities working for criminal legal system reform, and other faith communities united by the unwavering belief in the sanctity of human dignity, which must always be upheld and respected. Some of us share your Catholic faith, which teaches that “[T]he death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person” (2267, Catechism of the Catholic Church). All of us advocate for transformative justice that prevents harm, promotes restoration with accountability, and seeks wholeness for all communities. That compels us to ask you to take executive action to commute the death sentences of all people currently on federal death row.
During the final months of the prior administration, the United States conducted an unprecedented series of federal executions, resulting in the deaths of 13 individuals. These actions by our government constituted an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the human person. The President-Elect has pledged to resume executions when he takes office in January 2025. As communities of faith, we ask you to use the power vested in the office of the President to empty death row and reduce the potential number of federal executions that can be carried out over the next four years. We ask that you act quickly and commute all federal death sentences.
In the 2020 presidential campaign you promised as President to “strengthen America’s commitment to justice” and eliminate the death penalty. Time is running short, and we implore you to keep your promise.
Sincerely,
Alliance of Baptists
American Friends Service Committee
Community of Christ
Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd, U.S. Provinces
Death Row Support Project – Office of Peacebuilding and Policy, Church of the Brethren
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
Florida Council of Churches
Franciscan Action Network
Friends Committee on National Legislation (Quaker)
Hindus for Human Rights
Jesuit Conference Office of Justice and Ecology
Jewish Council for Public Affairs
John Wesley AME Zion Church
National Advocacy Center of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd
National Council of Churches
National Council of Jewish Women
National Religious Campaign Against Torture
NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice
Pax Christi USA
Sisters of Mercy of the Americas Justice Team
T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights
Union for Reform Judaism
LINK TO NCC APPLAUDS DEATH PENALTY COMMUTATIONS ISSUED BY PRESIDENT BIDEN