Activists slam Biden for pardoning turkeys, not those on federal death row

Advocates against the death penalty took aim with blistering irony at Joe Biden for pardoning two more Thanksgiving turkeys on Monday – reaching a total of eight fowl reprieved during his presidency – while he has failed to use his powers to grant clemency to anyone on federal death row awaiting execution.

“Biden’s days left in office are limited, but it’s not too late for him to spare everyone from federal death row (and cement his legacy for the better),” the Prison Policy Initiative, a group campaigning to end mass incarceration, said in a post on Instagram.

“He has spared zero people from death row,” the group added.

The group is not calling on the president literally to pardon all 40 people awaiting capital punishment for federal crimes, but to commute their sentences to life in prison.

“Turkey pardons might be a light-hearted tradition, but it’s hard to not think about the dozens of people whose lives will be taken from them by a tax-payer-funded death – all while politicians tout the importance of festive goodwill,” the post said.

On Monday, the US president pardoned Minnesota-raised turkeys, Peach and Blossom, joking during the ceremony that the birds love the midwestern staples of tater tot hot-dish meals and cheese curds.

But the institute urged Biden to take action before Donald Trump comes into office, who is expected to encourage more executions.

Other organizations are speaking out, echoing the concern. According to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), during Trump’s first presidency he oversaw 13 of the 16 federal executions that have occurred since the US supreme court reinstated the death penalty in 1976, the other three having occurred during fellow Republican George W Bush’s administration.

“During his first term, president-elect Trump executed more people on federal death row than the past 10 presidential administrations combined,” the ACLU said in a 24 November post on Instagram, which linked to a petition imploring Biden to quickly commute all federal death sentences.

Federal executions were paused under the Biden administration. The Democratic president has, separately issued pardons to 22 people convicted mainly on drug charges. In April 2022, he granted clemency to 75 people, including three pardons and 72 sentence commutations, but so far no mercy for anyone on federal death row.

“We are worried about what will happen to people on death row in the next administration,” said Wanda Bertram, communications strategist with the Prison Policy Initiative. “That’s what makes it so urgent for President Biden, as the outgoing executive, to commute all of these sentences.”

The organization is applying pressure not only to Biden but to other officials who will soon leave office, to commute state capital cases. The outgoing governors of Indiana, North Carolina and Missouri should take the opportunity to grant clemency to more incarcerated people without fearing political repercussions, said Bertram.

Rather than a “silly ceremony”, Biden and others leaving office should consider the legacy they leave, said Bertram. “An outgoing executive has literally nothing to lose by this.”