President Joe Biden is commuting the sentences of nearly 1,500 people who were released from prison and placed on home confinement during the coronavirus pandemic and pardoning 39 Americans convicted of nonviolent crimes. It is the largest single-day act of clemency in modern history.
The commutations announced on Thursday they are for people who have served sentences of home confinement for at least one year after being released. Prisons were uniquely bad for spreading the virus and some prisoners were released in part to stop the spread. At one point, 1 in 5 prisoners had COVID-19, according to a count by The Associated Press.
“These actions represent the largest single-day clemency grant in modern history,” the White House said.
Mr. Biden said he would take more steps in the coming weeks and would continue to review requests for clemency. The second highest one-day clemency was by Barack Obama, with 330, shortly before he left office in 2017.
“America was built on the promise of possibility and second chances,” Biden said in one statement. “As president, I have the great privilege of extending clemency to people who have shown remorse and rehabilitation, restoring the opportunity for Americans to participate in daily life and contribute to their communities, and taking steps to eliminate sentencing disparities for non-violent offenders, particularly those convicted of drug offences.”
The clemency follows a wide sorry for his son Hunterwho was prosecuted for weapons and tax crimes. Mr. Biden is under pressure from advocacy groups to pardon large swathes of people, including those on federal death row, before the Trump administration takes over in January. He is also weighing whether to issue preemptive pardons to those who investigated Trump’s effort to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election and face possible retribution when he takes office.
Those pardoned Thursday had been convicted of nonviolent crimes such as drug offenses and turned their lives around, White House lawyers said. They include a woman who led emergency response teams during natural disasters; a church deacon who has worked as an addictions and youth counselor; a PhD student in molecular biosciences; and a decorated military veteran.
The president had previously issued 122 commutations and 21 other pardons. He has also broadly pardoned those convicted of marijuana use and simple possession on federal lands and in the District of Columbia, and pardoned former U.S. service members convicted of violating a now-repealed military ban on consensual homosexual sex.
Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Massachusetts, 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 on a contempt charge court related to his work as a representative. Indigenous farmers in a lawsuit against Chevron.
Others advocate that Mr. Biden commute the sentences of federal death row inmates. His attorney general, Merrick Garland, halted the federal executions. Mr Biden had said during the 2020 campaign that he wanted to end the death penalty, but never did, and now with Trump back in office, executions are likely to resume. During his first term, Trump presided over an unprecedented number of federal executions, carried out during the height of the pandemic.
There will be more pardons before Mr Biden leaves office on January 20, but it is unclear whether he will take steps to avoid possible prosecution by Mr Trump, an unproven use of the power.
“My administration will continue to review clemency petitions to advance equal justice under the law, promote public safety, support rehabilitation and reentry, and provide meaningful second chances,” Biden said in a statement.
The president has taken the idea seriously and has been thinking about it for up to six months, before the presidential election, but has been concerned about the precedent it would set, according to people familiar with the matter who spoke to The Associated Press. on condition of anonymity to discuss internal discussions.
But those who received pardons should accept them. New California senator Adam Schiff, who chaired the congressional committee that investigated the violent January 6 uprising, said such a pardon by Mr. Biden would be “unnecessary” and that the president should not spend his waning days in office worrying about it.
A president has the power to pardon, in which a person is exonerated from guilt and punishment, or to commute a sentence, which reduces or eliminates the punishment, but does not exonerate the crime. It is customary for a president to grant clemency at the end of his term, using the power of the office to expunge records or end prison terms.
Before endorsing his son, Mr. Biden had repeatedly pledged not to. He said in a statement explaining his revocation that the prosecution had been poisoned by politics. The decision prompted criminal justice advocates and lawmakers to put additional public pressure on the administration to use the same power for everyday Americans. It was not a very popular move; only about 2 in 10 Americans approved of his decision, according to a poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
“The president’s categorical approach to clemency has also inspired leaders across the country to take similar action,” the White House said Thursday. “More than ten states and localities, including Maryland and Massachusetts, have issued categorical leniency for marijuana convictions, affecting hundreds of thousands of people and allowing people to get over their convictions and go about their daily lives.”