On Friday, President Biden reportedly commuted the sentences of over 2,500 inmates serving lengthy jail terms for nonviolent drug offenses, marking the most extensive remission of individual sentences ever granted by an American president.
The commutations pertain to criminals who were subjected to more severe terms for drug offenses than they would receive under contemporary standards, a measure intended to rectify enduring imbalances in the criminal justice system, stated Mr. Biden.
The commutations contribute to Mr. Biden’s extensive exercise of his mercy authority as he approaches the conclusion of his term.
In recent weeks, Obama has commuted the sentences of nearly all inmates on federal death row and established a single-day record of 1,500 commutations for those transitioned to home confinement during the pandemic.
The recent action signifies a culmination for Biden, who, as a senator, advocated for legislation that criminal justice experts assert contributed to sentencing inequities and exacerbated mass imprisonment, an issue he now seems intent on rectifying in his final days in office.
During his tenure as a senator, Biden contributed to the 1986 legislation that established such sentencing disparities and the 1994 crime bill, which he defended for many years.
In the 2020 presidential campaign, Mr. Biden acknowledged his remorse for endorsing the Act and pledged to rectify the lengthy drug sentences it produced.
Biden stated he would contemplate further commutations, which maintain the guilty finding while mitigating part or all of the penalties, as well as pardons, which annul convictions, in the forthcoming days.
The president has been contemplating preemptive pardons for certain former elected officials and others whom his successor, President-elect Donald J. Trump, may want to politically retaliate against.
Biden stated that his recent commutations will benefit individuals sentenced for offenses related to crack cocaine, who would likely have been released had the material been powder cocaine, or who encountered exaggerated accusations for drug-related crimes.
Biden claimed that he was adhering to the guidance of Congress, which has enacted legislation over the previous two decades to address longstanding imbalances resulting from stringent crime policies, including mandatory minimum penalties.
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