Biden's rationale behind Christmas present for death row killers foggy at best: expert

The president announced on Monday that 37 federal death-row inmates would have their sentences changed to life in prison without the possibility of parole, with the White House saying in a statement that Biden believes "America must stop the use of the death penalty at the federal level, except in cases of terrorism and hate-motivated mass murder."

The three death-row inmates that did not meet Biden's requirements for having their sentences commuted are: Robert Bowers, the Tree of Life Synagogue shooter who killed 11 people in 2018; Dylann Roof, a White supremacist who killed nine Black parishioners at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015; and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who worked with his now-dead brother to carry out the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing that killed three people and injured hundreds. 

John R. Lott Jr., president of the Crime Prevention Research Center and former chief economist for the U.S. Sentencing Commission in Washington, told Fox News Digital that Biden's rationale in deciding to commute the death sentences of 37 federal death-row inmates rather than all 40 remains unclear.

Criminal justice reform advocates praised the move. 

Matthew Mangino, Of Counsel at Luxenberg, Garbett, Kelly and George and author of "The Executioner's Toll," told Fox News Digital that he thinks Biden's commutations strengthen the argument in favor of the death penalty.

"In a strange sort of way, President Biden's bold use of his clemency power to prevent the systematic execution of federal death row inmates, strengthens the argument for the death penalty," Mangino said. "He left three men on death row to most assuredly face death."

United Women in Faith, the largest denominational organization for women, called on Biden to commute the sentences of all 40 federal death-row inmates, saying their organization understands how "the criminal justice system unfairly and unevenly targets people of color" in a press release ahead of Biden's Monday decision. 

After the president commuted 37 sentences, Emily Jones, executive for Racial Justice at United Women in Faith, praised the move as "very exciting - a real Advent blessing!" in a statement to Fox News Digital.

Lott, however, said that death sentences often inspire criminals to plead guilty to their crimes in order to avoid death, thus allowing governments to avoid costly and emotionally taxing death-penalty trials. Dylann Roof - one of the three federal inmates Biden decided to keep on death row - initially expressed interest in pleading guilty in his federal case to avoid the death penalty, Lott noted.

"Economists have looked at this extensively and found that on average, for each execution that occurs, you'll see a reduction in the number of murders by between about eight and eighteen," Lott said. "That's obviously related to the fact that [the death penalty] is a deterent for these guys."

The convicted murderers who will now escape execution include: Marcivicci Barnette, who killed a man in a carjacking and his ex-girlfriend; co-defendants Brandon Basham and Chadrick Fulks, who kidnapped and killed a woman after escaping prison; Anthony Battle, who killed a prison guard; Jason Brown, who stabbed a postal worker to death; Thomas Hager, who committed a drug-related killing; David Runyon, who participated in the murder-for-hire plot of a Naval officer; Thomas Sanders, who kidnapped and killed a 12-year-old girl; Rejon Taylor, who carjacked, kidnapped and killed a restaurant owner; and Alejandro Umana, who killed two brothers inside a restaurant.

The list also includes people who were convicted of murdering witnesses, a military service member, bank guards and employees during robberies and other federal prisoners; as well as people convicted in drug-related murders and one man who directed the murders of 12 people, including six members of a federal informant's family. 

As of Dec. 13, Biden has pardoned a total of 65 individuals and commuted sentences for 1,634 inmates during his time as president, according to the Department of Justice.

Fox News' Elizabeth Pritchett contributed to this report.