President Biden introduced Friday morning he’s commuting the sentences of practically 2,500 inmates as the top of his presidency attracts close to.
The commutations are for individuals convicted of non-violent drug offenses “who are serving disproportionately long sentences” in comparison with what they’d obtain if sentenced underneath at this time’s regulation.
“Today’s clemency action provides relief for individuals who received lengthy sentences based on discredited distinctions between crack and powder cocaine, as well as outdated sentencing enhancements for drug crimes,” Biden mentioned in an announcement.
The president mentioned now could be the time to “equalize these sentencing disparities” as acknowledged by means of the Truthful Sentencing Act of 2010 and the First Step Act of 2018.
“This action is an important step toward righting historic wrongs, correcting sentencing disparities, and providing deserving individuals the opportunity to return to their families and communities after spending far too much time behind bars,” he continued.
The choice places Biden 1000’s of instances forward of all different presidents who’ve issued acts of clemency throughout their phrases.
“With this action, I have now issued more individual pardons and commutations than any president in US history,” Biden mentioned.
Whereas granting clemency is just not unusual for a president, Biden has come underneath bipartisan fireplace for who he has determined to pardon or commute sentences for.
On the finish of December, he selected to commute the sentences of 37 of the 40 males on federal dying row – serving to them escape execution and sending them to jail for all times with out parole as an alternative.
He was additionally criticized for pardoning his son, Hunter, of all crimes he “has committed or may have committed” towards US regulation from Jan. 1, 2014, to Dec. 1, 2024.
Hunter was convicted final yr of gun and tax crimes in two separate federal instances.
Biden additionally boasted about finishing the “largest single-day grant of clemency” on Dec. 12 when he commuted sentences for 1,500 individuals and pardoned 39 others, most of whom had been already serving time in house confinement due to selections made through the COVID-19 period.
The president added that he’s “proud of [his] record on clemency” and mentioned he’ll “continue to review additional commutations and pardons” forward of his ultimate full day in workplace on Jan. 19.
There are 1,947 individuals awaiting to be pardoned as soon as they full their sentence and round 6,625 instances awaiting commutation after Friday’s determination, in line with Jan. 13 statistics from the Division of Justice.
