Published January 17,2025
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President Joe Biden on Friday commuted the sentences of practically 2,500 individuals convicted of non-violent drug offenses in what the White House referred to as the most important single-day act of clemency in US historical past.
Those whose sentences had been commuted had been serving “disproportionately long sentences” in comparison with what they’d obtain as we speak, Biden mentioned in a press release.
He referred to as the transfer “an important step toward righting historic wrongs, correcting sentencing disparities, and providing deserving individuals the opportunity to return to their families.”
“With this action, I have now issued more individual pardons and commutations than any president in US history,” Biden mentioned, including that he might problem additional commutations or pardons earlier than he arms over energy to President-elect Donald Trump on Monday.
The outgoing president mentioned these receiving clemency had acquired prolonged sentences based mostly on now-discredited distinctions between crack and powder cocaine, which have disproportionately impacted the Black neighborhood.
Historically, there have been significantly extra crack cocaine convictions involving Black offenders than whites and the disparate sentencing coverage has been condemned as racist.
Kara Gotsch, govt director of The Sentencing Project, which campaigns for jail reform, welcomed the White House clemency motion, saying it will present “relief for countless families who have endured punishments for loved ones that far exceed their utility.”
“Cruel and excessive prison sentences that have overwhelmingly harmed Black communities have been the cornerstone of federal drug policy for generations,” Gotsch mentioned in a press release. “American communities, disproportionately Black and Brown, have long borne the scars of the Drug War.”
Biden commuted the sentences of practically 1,500 individuals and pardoned 39 others final month.
Among these pardoned in December was Biden’s son Hunter, who was going through a attainable jail sentence after being convicted of gun and tax crimes.
Biden has in the meantime reportedly been debating whether or not to problem blanket pre-emptive pardons for some allies and former officers amid fears they may very well be focused for what Trump has beforehand referred to as “retribution.”
In December, Biden additionally commuted the demise sentences of 37 of the 40 inmates on federal demise row.
Three males had been excluded from the transfer: one of many 2013 Boston Marathon bombers, a gunman who murdered 11 Jewish worshippers in 2018 and a white supremacist who killed 9 Black churchgoers in 2015.
Trump has indicated that he’ll resume federal executions, which had been paused whereas Biden was in workplace.
Source: www.anews.com.tr