President Joe Biden on Friday commuted the sentences of nearly 2,500 people convicted of non-violent drug offenses in what the White House called the largest single-day act of clemency in US history.
Those whose sentences were commuted were serving “disproportionately long sentences” compared to what they would receive today, Biden said in a statement.
He called the move “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 said, adding that he may issue further commutations or pardons before he hands over power to President-elect Donald Trump on Monday.
The outgoing president said those receiving clemency had received lengthy sentences based on now-discredited distinctions between crack and powder cocaine, which have disproportionately impacted the Black community.
Historically, there have been considerably more crack cocaine convictions involving Black offenders than whites and the disparate sentencing policy has been condemned as racist.
Kara Gotsch, executive director of The Sentencing Project, which campaigns for prison reform, welcomed the White House clemency action, saying it would provide “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 said in a statement. “American communities, disproportionately Black and Brown, have long borne the scars of the Drug War.”
Biden commuted the sentences of nearly 1,500 people and pardoned 39 others last month.
Among those pardoned in December was Biden’s son Hunter, who was facing a possible prison sentence after being convicted of gun and tax crimes.
Biden has meanwhile reportedly been debating whether to issue blanket pre-emptive pardons for some allies and former officials amid fears they could be targeted for what Trump has previously called “retribution.”
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In December, Biden also commuted the death sentences of 37 of the 40 inmates on federal death row.
Three men were excluded from the move: one of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombers, a gunman who murdered 11 Jewish worshippers in 2018 and a white supremacist who killed nine Black churchgoers in 2015.
Trump has indicated that he will resume federal executions, which were paused while Biden was in office.
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