Trump can\u2019t reverse commutations of 37 people but says US will be \u2018Nation of Law and Order\u2019 when he is inaugurated<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Donald Trump has said he will direct the justice department to \u201cvigorously\u201d pursue the death penalty for the perpetrators of violent crimes, one day after Joe Biden commuted the death sentences<\/a> of most prisoners on the federal government\u2019s death row.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In a post on Truth Social<\/a>, the president-elect said as soon as he is inaugurated next month, he \u201cwill direct the Justice Department to vigorously pursue the death penalty to protect American families and children from violent rapists, murderers, and monsters\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe will be a Nation of Law and Order again!\u201d Trump added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump will not be able to reverse Biden\u2019s recent commutations, which extended to 37 federal death row prisoners but left three capital sentences intact. Those three are for Robert Bowers, convicted for the mass shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue; Dylann Roof, convicted of the shooting at the Mother Emanuel AME church; and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, convicted for the Boston Marathon bombing<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Opponents of the death penalty praised the president\u2019s decision, while others criticized the move.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Donnie Oliverio, the partner of Bryan Hurst, an Ohio police officer who was killed by a prisoner whose death sentence was commuted, said his killer\u2019s execution \u201cwould have brought me no peace\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hurst\u2019s widow, Marissa Gibson, called Biden\u2019s move distressing and a \u201ccomplete dismissal and undermining of the federal justice system\u201d, in a statement to the Columbus Dispatch<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the case of Dylann Roof, Rev Sharon Risher, the family member of several of his nine victims at Mother Emanuel AME church in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015, said Biden\u2019s decision was \u201cunfair\u201d and urged him to \u201cfinish the job\u201d and commute the sentences of the three remaining men.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou can\u2019t rank victims, Mr President,\u201d Risher, who is board chair of Death Penalty Action, told Newsweek. \u201cI am begging you to finish the job, not only with the three men left on federal death row, but also with those on the military death row. There\u2019s still time. Finish the job.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Biden, an opponent of the death penalty, said he could not allow the new administration to restart executions \u2013 a promise Trump made on the campaign. Thirteen federal prisoners were put to death during Trump\u2019s first term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Biden\u2019s decision to commute the 37 death sentences provoked an angry response from his White House predecessor and successor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cJoe Biden just commuted the Death Sentence on 37 of the worst killers in our Country,\u201d Trump said in a post<\/a> soon after the decision was made public. \u201cWhen you hear the acts of each, you won\u2019t believe that he did this. Makes no sense. Relatives and friends are further devastated.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n