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Entries tagged with “President Joe Biden”

Policy Issues

Innocence

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Representation

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Mar 31, 2023

Bryan Stevenson Honored with the National Humanities Medal

Prominent death penal­ty attor­ney, founder and Executive Director of the Equal Justice Initiative, Bryan Stevenson (pic­tured with President Joe Biden), was award­ed the National Humanities Medal on March 21, 2023 at the White House. The pres­i­dent com­mend­ed Stevenson for his long-term efforts to rep­re­sent the impov­er­ished and exon­er­ate the wrong­ful­ly con­vict­ed, in addi­tion to found­ing the Legacy Museum and the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, both locat­ed in Montgomery,…

Facts & Research

Clemency

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Recent Legislative Activity

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Federal Death Penalty

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Jan 20, 2021

Democratic Legislators Introduce Death Penalty Repeal Bills, Urge President Biden to Commute Federal Death Sentences

Democratic mem­bers of the U.S. House and Senate have called on incom­ing President Joe Biden (pic­tured) to take quick action on his cam­paign pledge to end the fed­er­al death penal­ty. Legislators intro­duced three bills to abol­ish the fed­er­al death penal­ty and urged the President to issue exec­u­tive orders to halt fed­er­al exe­cu­tions and com­mute the death sen­tences of those on fed­er­al death…

State & Federal Info

Federal Death Penalty

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Jul 13, 2021

Editorial Boards Say Moratorium to Study Execution Practices is Not Enough, Biden Should Commute Federal Death Row

Major U.S. edi­to­r­i­al writ­ers have crit­i­cized the Biden administration’s June 30, 2021 announce­ment of a tem­po­rary mora­to­ri­um on exe­cu­tions while the Department of Justice reviews Trump admin­is­tra­tion changes to U.S. exe­cu­tion prac­tices, say­ing that the pause for a lim­it­ed pol­i­cy review fails to ful­fill the President’s cam­paign pledge to work to end the fed­er­al death…

State & Federal Info

Federal Death Penalty

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Mar 13, 2023

Federal Jury Returns a Life Verdict in New York for Sayfullo Saipov

On March 13, 2023, a jury in the fed­er­al death penal­ty pros­e­cu­tion of Sayfullo Saipov in New York City con­clud­ed its delib­er­a­tions with­out com­ing to a unan­i­mous deci­sion regard­ing sen­tenc­ing. As a result, Saipov will be sen­tenced to life in prison with­out parole. On January 26, the jury had unan­i­mous­ly found the defen­dant guilty of mur­der­ing eight peo­ple in 2017 by delib­er­ate­ly ram­ming a truck onto a crowd­ed Manhattan bike path. Neither Saipov nor his attor­neys con­test­ed his involve­ment in…

Policy Issues

Human Rights

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International

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Federal Death Penalty

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Jul 11, 2022

In New Report, Amnesty International Urges President Biden to End the Federal Death Penalty and Commute All Federal Death Sentences

A new report by the human rights orga­ni­za­tion Amnesty International urges President Joe Biden to act upon his cam­paign pledge to work to abol­ish the death penal­ty by exer­cis­ing his con­sti­tu­tion­al author­i­ty to com­mute the sen­tences of all fed­er­al death row…

Facts & Research

United States Supreme Court

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Feb 28, 2022

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson Nominated to U.S. Supreme Court

President Joe Biden has nom­i­nat­ed fed­er­al appeals court judge Ketanji Brown Jackson (pic­tured) to serve as a U.S. Supreme Court jus­tice, ful­fill­ing his cam­paign pledge to select an African American woman for the Court. If con­firmed, Jackson would be the first Black woman to serve on the nation’s highest…

State & Federal Info

Federal Death Penalty

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Feb 09, 2021

More Than 80 Civil Rights and Advocacy Organizations Urge President Biden to End Federal Executions

A coali­tion of 82 civ­il rights and advo­ca­cy orga­ni­za­tions have called on President Joe Biden to hon­or his cam­paign promise of ​“ensur­ing equal­i­ty, equi­ty, and jus­tice in our crim­i­nal legal sys­tem” by tak­ing exec­u­tive action to end fed­er­al exe­cu­tions. The groups, led by The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, asked Biden to com­mute the sen­tences of every­one on fed­er­al death row, dis­man­tle the fed­er­al death cham­ber, rescind the fed­er­al execution…

Policy Issues

Representation

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Federal Death Penalty

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Jan 28, 2021

Three Cases Illustrate Federal Death Penalty in Flux as Biden Team Takes Reins at DOJ

Developments in three fed­er­al cap­i­tal cas­es at the tran­si­tion between pres­i­den­tial admin­is­tra­tions illus­trate the choic­es that the new Biden Department of Justice will face in for­mu­lat­ing its pol­i­cy on the fed­er­al death penal­ty. The cas­es, each at a crit­i­cal turn­ing point in deter­min­ing whether to move for­ward in a poten­tial­ly cap­i­tal pros­e­cu­tion, will shed light on the strength of the DOJ leadership’s com­mit­ment to imple­ment­ing the president’s pledge to end the fed­er­al death…

Policy Issues

International

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LGBTQ+ People

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Jun 01, 2023

Uganda’s Controversial ​“Anti-Homosexuality Act” Includes Possibility of Death Sentence

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni’s (pic­tured) deci­sion to sign the Anti-Homosexuality Act 2023 on May 29 has drawn wide­spread inter­na­tion­al crit­i­cism. The new law pre­scribes that peo­ple con­vict­ed of ​“aggra­vat­ed homo­sex­u­al­i­ty” may now be pun­ished with a death sen­tence. Although same-sex rela­tion­ships were already ille­gal in the coun­try, the new law, which passed with the sup­port of 341 out of 389 mem­bers of par­lia­ment, includes harsh­er pun­ish­ments for ​“pro­mot­ing” homo­sex­u­al­i­ty and engaging…

Facts & Research

Clemency

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Federal Death Penalty

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Jun 16, 2021

White House Reasserts Opposition to Death Penalty, Stresses Independence of Justice Department as DOJ Asks Supreme Court to Reinstate Death Sentence in Boston Marathon Bombing

As the Department of Justice filed a brief in the U.S. Supreme Court seek­ing rein­state­ment of the death sen­tence imposed on Dzhokhar Tsarnaev in the Boston Marathon bomb­ing, the White House press office issued a state­ment stress­ing the inde­pen­dence of the Department over the cas­es it is pur­su­ing and assert­ing that President Joe Biden has not backed away from his cam­paign promise to work to end the fed­er­al death…