After announcing on Friday that he would pardon nearly 2,500 nonviolent offenders, President Joe Biden has given out more pardons than any other president in history.
Biden announced in his announcement, which came three days before the end of his term, that he was commuting sentences for nearly 2,500 nonviolent drug offenders who were “serving disproportionately lengthy sentences compared with the sentences they would have received today under the current law, policy, and practice.”
He didn’t provide any additional information about the number of people affected by clemency, the timeline involved, or the criteria for pardons.
Biden wrote: “Today’s action of clemency provides relief to individuals who were sentenced for long periods based on discredited differences between crack cocaine and powder cocaine as well as outdated enhancements in sentencing for drug crimes.”
In the 1980s Biden supported several bills that increased penalties against drug users. One bill, in particular, imposed a longer sentence on crack cocaine users who are primarily African-Americans compared with those convicted for using powder cocaine.
Since then, Congress has attempted to address disparities in sentencing through the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010, and the First Step Act of 2018
He said that the action was an important step in correcting historical wrongs and sentencing disparities and giving deserving people the chance to return home to their families and community after spending too much time in prison.
He acknowledged the fact that this decision would create a precedent in history.
In a statement, Biden said, “I have now granted more pardons to individuals and commutations of sentences than any other president in U.S. History.”
Biden hinted that he was not yet done with his pardoning power. He also wrote, “Continue to examine additional commutations or pardons.”
