Opinion | The Government Has Not Explained How These 13 People Were Selected to Die – The New York Times

But by the time executions are carried out, none of that randomness is visible. Everything appears to be in order. And appearances matter, because execution is theater.

In the squat brick building in Terre Haute where the federal government puts people to death, separate chambers surround the gurney where the inmates are put on display so observers can watch the killing. One room is for victims families, one is for lawyers, and one is for the media. When I witnessed in December the execution of Alfred Bourgeois, who killed his 2-year-old daughter, I felt I was meant to feel the grisly affair was sterile, routine, orderly.

And so were you, the audience for whom this performance is staged, the unspoken patrons who fund these killings with your tax dollars.

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Mr. Biden can end this charade.

Eliminate the death penalty, reads the boldest proposal on his campaign website, filed under the heading of justice. The text goes on to acknowledge death row exonerations as proof of unacceptable risk and states that, as president, Mr. Biden will work to pass legislation to eliminate the death penalty at the federal level, and incentivize states to follow the federal governments example.

He now has his opportunity. Democratic lawmakers have put forth a bicameral proposal that would turn Mr. Bidens campaign promise into policy and abolish the federal death penalty. Meanwhile, dozens of House members, led by Representative Cori Bush of Missouri and Representative Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, submitted a letter to Mr. Biden asking that he commute the remaining 49 federal death sentences to life in prison.

And he should. Those commutations, if coupled with a decision by Mr. Bidens attorney general to direct federal prosecutors to stop seeking death sentences, withdraw notices of intent to seek death sentences, and terminate federal appeals in capital cases where courts have granted defendants relief, would forfend another rampage like Mr. Trumps for some time.

Only signing an abolition bill like the one gaining momentum in Congress will prevent it for good.

When I asked Michael Gwin, Mr. Bidens rapid response director, what action the president planned to take on the federal death penalty, Mr. Gwin replied: The president made clear his abhorrence of the heinous execution spree we just witnessed under the previous president. He has also noted that the risk of executing the innocent is too high, with over 170 people on death row exonerated since 1973. He believes the application of the death penalty is deeply flawed and will have more to say about this issue in the future.

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Opinion | The Government Has Not Explained How These 13 People Were Selected to Die - The New York Times