FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) 鈥 President-elect Donald Trump promised on Tuesday to 鈥渧igorously pursue鈥 capital punishment after President Joe Biden commuted the sentences of most people on federal death row partly to stop Trump from pushing forward their executions.
Trump criticized Biden鈥檚 decision on Monday to change the sentences of 37 of the 40 condemned people to life in prison without parole, arguing that it was senseless and insulted the families of their victims. Biden said converting their punishments to life imprisonment was consistent with the moratorium imposed on federal executions in cases other than terrorism and hate-motivated mass murder.
鈥淛oe Biden just commuted the Death Sentence on 37 of the worst killers in our Country,鈥 he wrote on his social media site. 鈥淲hen you hear the acts of each, you won鈥檛 believe that he did this. Makes no sense. Relatives and friends are further devastated. They can鈥檛 believe this is happening!鈥
Presidents historically have no involvement in dictating or recommending the punishments that federal prosecutors seek for defendants in criminal cases, though Trump has long sought more direct control over the Justice Department's operations. The president-elect wrote that he would direct the department to pursue the death penalty 鈥渁s soon as I am inaugurated,鈥 but was vague on what specific actions he may take and said they would be in cases of 鈥渧iolent rapists, murderers, and monsters.鈥
He highlighted the cases of two men who were on federal death row for slaying a woman and a girl, had admitted to killing more and had their sentences commuted by Biden.
Is it a plan in motion or more rhetoric?
On the campaign trail, Trump often called for expanding the federal death penalty 鈥 including for those who kill police officers, those convicted of drug and human trafficking, and migrants who kill U.S. citizens.
鈥淭rump has been fairly consistent in wanting to sort of say that he thinks the death penalty is an important tool and he wants to use it,鈥 said Douglas Berman, an expert on sentencing at Ohio State University鈥檚 law school. 鈥淏ut whether practically any of that can happen, either under existing law or other laws, is a heavy lift.鈥
Berman said Trump鈥檚 statement at this point seems to be just a response to Biden鈥檚 commutation.
鈥淚鈥檓 inclined to think it鈥檚 still in sort of more the rhetoric phase. Just, 鈥榙on鈥檛 worry. The new sheriff is coming. I like the death penalty,鈥欌 he said.
Most Americans have historically supported the death penalty for people convicted of murder, according to decades of annual polling by Gallup, but support has declined over the past few decades. About half of Americans were in favor in an October poll, while roughly 7 in 10 Americans backed capital punishment for murderers in 2007.
Death row inmates are mostly sentenced by states
Before Biden's commutation, there were 40 federal death row inmates compared with more than 2,000 who have been sentenced to death by states.
鈥淭he reality is all of these crimes are typically handled by the states,鈥 Berman said.
A question is whether the Trump administration would try to take over some state murder cases, such as those related to drug trafficking or smuggling. He could also attempt to take cases from states that have abolished the death penalty.
Could rape now be punishable by death?
Berman said Trump's statement, along with some recent actions by states, may present an effort to get the Supreme Court to reconsider a precedent that considers the death penalty disproportionate punishment for rape.
鈥淭hat would literally take decades to unfold. It鈥檚 not something that is going to happen overnight,鈥 Berman said.
Before one of Trump's rallies on Aug. 20, his prepared remarks released to the media said he would announce he would ask for the death penalty for child rapists and child traffickers. But Trump never delivered the line.
What were the cases highlighted by Trump?
One of the men Trump highlighted on Tuesday was ex-Marine Jorge Avila Torrez, who was sentenced to death for killing a sailor in Virginia and later pleaded guilty to the fatal stabbing of an 8-year-old and a 9-year-old girl in a suburban Chicago park several years before.
The other man, Thomas Steven Sanders, was sentenced to death for the kidnapping and slaying of a 12-year-old girl in Louisiana, days after shooting the girl's mother in a wildlife park in Arizona. Court records show he admitted to both killings.
Some families of victims expressed anger with Biden's decision, but the president had faced pressure from advocacy groups urging him to make it more difficult for Trump to increase the use of capital punishment for federal inmates. The ACLU and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops were some of the groups that applauded the decision.
Biden left three federal inmates to face execution. They are Dylann Roof, who carried out the in Charleston, South Carolina; 2013 Boston Marathon bomber ; and Robert Bowers, who fatally shot 11 congregants at Pittsburgh鈥檚 , the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S history. _______
Associated Press writers Jill Colvin, Michelle L. Price and Eric Tucker contributed to this report.
