President Biden announced on Friday that he would commute the sentences of nearly 2,500 inmates serving long sentences for non-violent crimes, the most sweeping change to any sentence issued by a US president.
The switch is aimed at offenders who have received tougher felony sentences than current practices, a move aimed at restoring longstanding criminal justice inequities, Mr. Biden said. These disparities have affected blacks and led to mass incarceration, many experts say.
“This action is an important step in righting historic wrongs, correcting sentencing disparities and giving deserving people the chance to return to their families and communities after serving too much time. in prison,” Mr. Biden said in a statement.
The succession is compounded by Mr. Biden’s use of his pardon power as he prepares to leave office. In recent weeks, he has commuted the sentences of nearly every inmate on the federal death row and set a record 1,500 commutations a day for those moved home during the pandemic. – move.
Mr. Biden said he would consider additional pardons, which overturn convictions, and commutations, which allow guilty verdicts but reduce some or all penalties, in the coming days. Among others, Mr. Biden has considered early pardons for former elected officials and other people who may be the target of political retaliation against President-elect Donald J. Trump.
Mr. Biden said it would help those who were sentenced based on the now meaningless distinction between cocaine and powder cocaine, or faced increased charges for drug crimes, Mr. Biden said.
Mr. Biden said in his statement that he was following the lead of Congress, which has passed laws over the past two decades to repair decades of inconsistencies caused by tougher criminal laws, such as penalties. must be done at least.
As a senator, Mr. Biden sponsored one such piece of legislation, the crime bill in 1994. He has since expressed regret over his support for the legislation, and has pledged during the campaign – he decided in 2020 to solve the long sentences caused by drugs.
“After Congress passed the Fair Sentencing Act and the First Steps Act, it’s time to equalize these sentencing disparities,” Mr. Biden said.
The move comes after Mr. Biden faced intense pressure from lawyers and Democratic allies to use his power in his final days in office to free prisoners who are vulnerable or suffering because of structural differences.
Those calls grew louder last month after Mr Biden issued a full and unconditional pardon for his son Hunter – after repeatedly insisting he would not do so – erasing legal issues during years, including federal convictions for illegal gun purchases and guilty pleas. charge of payment of tax.
In recent months, Mr. Biden has fielded requests from Democrats and criminal justice advocates who have called on him to focus specifically on those who have spent decades in prison because of drug laws that have changed over time. He faced the greatest pressure to help those incarcerated for crimes related to crack cocaine who were likely to be released as powder cocaine.
In April, he commuted the sentences of five people convicted of drug-related crimes. This is in addition to the commutation of the sentences of nearly a dozen such inmates in December 2023. Many of them were convicted of crimes involving powder cocaine.
Some of Mr. Biden’s closest allies, such as James E. Clyburn, Democrat of South Carolina, have made the case to the White House that crack cocaine is more widespread among black community, but powder cocaine was used by whites. .
“I told them that these are some of the inequalities that black people experience,” Mr. Clyburn said in an interview last month.
Mr. has issued an amnesty. Biden, including thousands of people convicted of federal marijuana offenses and veterans convicted of sex crimes. None of these people were incarcerated at that time.
Some Democrats lobbying the White House have said the use of pardons to address disparities in convictions could be the cornerstone of the president’s criminal record.
“It’s not just a matter of what’s right,” Representative Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts said in an interview last month. “It’s also about legacy.”
