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Biden commutes 2,500 more sentences for non-violent drug offenders

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President Joe Biden announced on Friday that he was commuting the sentences of nearly 2,500 people convicted of non-violent drug offenses.

Biden said he has now issued more individual pardons and commutations than any predecessor.

Those benefiting “are serving disproportionately long sentences compared to the sentences they would receive today under current law, policy, and practice,” Biden said in a statement.

According to the statement issued by the White House, the move provides clemency relief to individuals who were sentenced based on
discredited distinctions between crack and powder cocaine.

It added that this was an outdated sentencing enhancements for drug crimes.

In December, Biden commuted the sentences for 37 out of 40 federal inmates on death row, converting them to life in prison without parole, ahead of President-elect Donald Trump returning to the Oval Office on Jan. 20.

He also announced in the same month that he was pardoning 39 people convicted of non-violent crimes and commuting the sentences of nearly 1,500 others who were serving long prison terms.

Biden has faced criticism for pardoning his son, Hunter, who had pleaded guilty to tax violations and was convicted on firearms-related charges.

Defense attorneys and civil rights groups had ramped up efforts to highlight compelling cases and launched campaigns to help those they believe were wrongly convicted or are serving excessive terms for nonviolent offenses.

Presidents typically order a round of pardons toward the end of their time in office.

Trump has promised to grant clemency to at least some of his supporters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6,2021 in a failed bid to block Congress from certifying Biden’s 2020 election victory.

Hadiza Mohammed

NEWSVERGE, published by The Verge Communications is an online community of international news portal and social advocates dedicated to bringing you commentaries, features, news reports from a Nigerian-African perspective. A unique organization, founded in the spirit of Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, comprising of ordinary people with an overriding commitment to seeking the truth and publishing it without fear or favour. The Verge Communications is fully registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as a corporate organization.

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