President Joe Biden announced on Friday that he has commuted the sentences of nearly 2,500 individuals convicted of nonviolent drug offenses, marking the largest single-day clemency action by a US president. This mass pardoning, likely to be one of the last acts Biden performs as president, is the latest in a series of controversial clemency decisions by the outgoing president
“Today, I am commuting the sentences of nearly 2,500 people convicted of non-violent drug offenses who are serving disproportionately long sentences compared to the sentences they would receive today under current law, policy, and practice,” Biden said in a statement from the White House. “With this action, I have now issued more individual pardons and commutations than any president in U.S. history.”
Learn more about the all-new VT News and subscribe today!
Biden specifically called attention to inmates “received lengthy sentences based on discredited distinctions between crack and powder cocaine,” which racial justice advocates have long seen as a form of discrimination. Prior to the passage of the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010, the weight ratio of crack cocaine and powder cocaine was set at 100 to 1, meaning that 100 grams of powder and a single gram of crack were treated equally for sentencing purposes. The 2010 legislation reduced that ratio to 18 to 1.
“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,” Biden continued. “I am proud of my record on clemency and will continue to review additional commutations and pardons.”
This move adds to a series of clemency actions by Biden, which includes prior commutations for individuals affected by the pandemic and those on death row. On December 1, the president granted his son Hunter Biden a blanket pardon for all “offenses against the United States which he has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 1, 2014 through December 1, 2024.”
Later that month, he commuted the sentences of 37 of the 40 inmates currently on death row, instead granting them life in prison. Soon after, he enacted another mass clemency for non-violent drug offenders, including 39 pardons and commutations for 1,499 people who were on home confinement due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
With less than four days left in office, Biden is weighing the possibility of additional pardons and commutations before President-elect Donald Trump takes office.
The White House has not disclosed the names of those affected by this latest commutation.
Connor Walcott is the lead writer for Valuetainment.com. Follow Connor on X and look for him on VT’s “The Unusual Suspects.”
Got a hot scoop or an idea for a story? Connect with the VT writers on Minnect!
Add comment