(DailyAnswer.org) – Senator Eric Schmitt, R-Mo, appeared on The Faulkner Focus Monday to criticize President Joe Biden’s recent decision to commute the death sentences of 37 federal inmates. Among those affected are individuals convicted of horrific crimes, including child murder and mass killings. This move comes just weeks after Biden granted clemency to over 100 others in what has been called the largest single-day act of clemency in U.S. history. Schmitt called the decision an affront to justice and a slap in the face to victims’ families.
“It’s two days before Christmas,” Schmitt said. “Families are grieving their loved ones who were taken from them in brutal ways. Now they’re seeing their killers spared from the justice they deserve. This is beyond belief.”
Biden has commuted the sentences of 37 out of 40 inmates currently on federal death row. Their sentences will now be life in prison without parole, according to the White House. However, Biden did not include three high-profile cases: Robert Bowers, who killed 11 worshippers in the 2018 Tree of Life Synagogue shooting; Dylann Roof, who murdered nine Black parishioners in a Charleston church in 2015; and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, one of the Boston Marathon bombers.
The backlash from conservatives and victims’ advocates has been swift. Schmitt, a former prosecutor, shared the story of one victim, Lexis Roberts, a young girl who was murdered after witnessing her mother’s killing. “Her killer, Thomas Sanders, was sentenced to death for these monstrous acts,” Schmitt said. “Now Biden has decided to spare him. It’s nuts. Completely nuts.”
This decision aligns with Biden’s long-standing opposition to capital punishment. During his 2020 campaign, he vowed to end the federal death penalty and push states to follow suit. Critics argue that this policy is out of touch with public opinion and undermines justice for the victims of heinous crimes.
Supporters of Biden’s decision see it as a step toward a more humane justice system. They point out the racial disparities in capital punishment and the risk of wrongful executions. Still, many Americans remain uneasy about such sweeping clemency, especially for those convicted of the most violent crimes.
As the debate continues, victims’ families are left grappling with the implications of Biden’s decision. For them, the wounds of loss may feel even deeper as justice seems farther out of reach.
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