As President Biden prepares to leave office, please urge him to commute all current federal death sentences to terms of imprisonment before his term ends. President Biden has an extraordinary opportunity to advance the cause of human dignity by commuting all federal death sentences to terms of imprisonment and sparing the lives of the 40 men currently on federal death row. 

The Catholic bishops of the U.S. have long called for an end to the use of the death penalty. In 1980, the USCCB issued a statement calling for its abolition, referencing the bishops’ vote in 1974 to oppose capital punishment. They outlined concerns with the death penalty that remain relevant today, including that the death penalty extinguishes possibilities for reform and rehabilitation; the imposition of capital punishment involves the possibility of mistakes; the legal imposition of capital punishment in our society involves long and unavoidable delays; carrying out the death penalty brings with it great and avoidable anguish for everyone involved; and that capital punishment is carried out in an unfair and discriminatory manner. 

In the ensuing years, the USCCB has taken frequent and consistent actions to oppose the death penalty and advocate for its abolition, including a call on the Biden Administration in 2021 to commute federal death sentences to terms of imprisonment. Furthermore, in 2018, Pope Francis updated the Catechism of the Catholic Church to state that “the Church teaches, in the light of the Gospel, that ‘the death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person’, and she works with determination for its abolition worldwide.” 

As President Biden prepares to leave office, please renew this call by taking action today.