President Biden has spared the lives of 37 of 40 federal death row prisoners by commuting their sentences to life in prison. This comes just weeks before President-elect Donald Trump is set to return to the White House with a promise to restart and expand federal executions. “Death is in no way decreasing violence or is in no way giving anybody closure,” says Herman Lindsey, who spent three years on death row before being exonerated in 2009 and condemns politicians like Trump who use executions as a “political tool.” “Most politicians use that to put the fear into people and use it as a voting tool.” President Biden’s action comes after years of advocacy by civil rights and Catholic groups. Last week, he had a phone call with Pope Francis, who reportedly called for the sentences of death row prisoners to be commuted. “He shares that faith and put it into action in a pretty courageous way, to speak out about the needs of healing the criminal justice system, that too often is wrong,” says Sister Simone Campbell, the former executive director of the Network Lobby for Catholic Social Justice.

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