A group of human rights activists, former corrections officials and families of crime victims asked President Biden on Monday to use his clemency power to take all 40 inmates off federal death row before he hands over power to President-elect Donald J. Trump.
In a series of open letters, the group noted that Mr. Biden campaigned on opposing capital punishment. Mr. Trump supports the death penalty and restarted federal executions after a nearly 20-year pause during his first term.
“As your time in office comes to a close, there is an unprecedented need for you to cement your commitment to remedying injustices by exercising executive clemency and commuting the death sentences of those on federal death row,” one of the letters said.
The letters on Monday aligned with a larger effort by congressional Democrats and others to persuade Mr. Biden to use his clemency power to commute death sentences to life sentences without parole and to free people serving disproportionally long drug sentences.
Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, said last week that Mr. Biden was expected to make more clemency announcements “at the end of his term.”
“He’s thinking through that process very thoroughly,” Ms. Jean-Pierre said.
Presidents typically order a round of pardons toward the end of their time in office. Earlier this month, Mr. Biden issued a full and unconditional pardon of his son Hunter — after repeatedly insisting he would not do so — erasing years of legal troubles, including a federal conviction for illegally buying a gun and for tax evasion.
