WASHINGTON — The President Joe Biden is commuting the sentences of about 1,500 people who were released from prison and placed on home detention during the coronavirus pandemic and pardoning 39 Americans convicted of non-violent crimes. It is the largest single-day clemency act in modern history.
The commutations announced Thursday are for people who have served house sentences for at least a year after being released. Prisons were very bad for the spread of the virus and some prisoners were released to stop the spread. In such a case, 1 in 5 inmates had COVID-19, According to a count by The Associated Press.
Biden said he would take further steps in the coming weeks and continue to review clemency requests. The second most actions in a single day was done by Barack Obama, with 330, shortly before he left office in 2017.
“America was built on opportunity and the promise of second chances,” Biden said in a statement. “As president, I have the great privilege to extend compassion to people who have shown remorse and rehabilitation, to restore the opportunity for Americans to participate in everyday life and to contribute to their communities, and to take action to eliminate disparities in sentencing nonviolent offenders, especially those convicted of drug offenses.”
Clementia follows Profuse apologies to his son Hunterwho was convicted of weapons and tax crimes. Biden is under pressure from campaign groups to pardon many people, including those on federal death row, before the Trump administration takes over in January. He is also looking into it to grant preventive pardons Investigate Trump’s effort to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election and those who may have a payoff upon taking office.
Those pardoned Thursday were convicted of nonviolent crimes, such as drug offenses, and turned their lives around, White House lawyers said. Among others, a woman who led emergency response teams during natural disasters; a church deacon who has worked as an addiction counselor and youth counselor; PhD in molecular biosciences; and a decorated military veteran.
The President previously granted 122 commutations and 21 pardons. It is also wide he forgave the judges of use and simplicity possession of marijuana on federal land and in the District of Columbia, and first parole US service members have been convicted for violating the now-repealed military ban on consensual gay sex.
Rep. Jim McGovern and 34 other lawmakers are calling on the president to pardon environmental and human rights lawyer Steven Donziger, who was jailed or under house arrest for three years for contempt of court related to the work he represented. Indigenous farmers in the case against Chevron.
Others are advocating for Biden to commute the sentences of federal inmates on death row. His attorney general, Merrick Garland, halted the federal executions. Biden said during the 2020 campaign that he wanted to end the death penalty, but he never did, and now, with Trump back in office, executions are likely to resume. In his first term, Trump presided over unprecedented federal executions, carried out during the pandemic.
More pardons are on the way before Biden leaves office on January 20, but it’s unclear whether Trump will take steps to protect him from possible prosecution without testing his use of the power. The president has taken the idea seriously and has been thinking about it for six months — before the presidential election — but has expressed concern about the precedent it would set, according to people familiar with the matter who spoke to The Associated Press. to discuss internal discussions under the condition of anonymity.
But those who received pardons should accept them. New California Senator Adam Schiff, The former chairman of the congressional committee that investigated the violent uprising on January 6 said a pardon for Biden would be “unnecessary” and that the president should not spend his last days in office worrying about it.
A president has the power to either pardon, in which a person is removed from guilt and punishment, or to commute a sentence, which reduces or removes punishment, but does not excuse wrongdoing. It is common for a president to grant clemency at the end of his term, using the office’s power to expunge records or end prison terms.
Before forgiving his son, Biden repeatedly pledged that he would not. He said in his retraction statement that he was poisoned by prosecutorial politics. The decision prompted criminal justice advocates and lawmakers to put additional public pressure on the administration to use that power for everyday Americans. It was not a very popular move; Only 2 in 10 Americans approved of his decision, according to a poll Associated Press-NORC Public Affairs Research Center.
