Biden commutes 1,500 sentences in largest single-day act of clemency | Joe Biden

Joe Biden has carried out the largest act of presidential clemency on a single day in modern US history, commuting the sentences of almost 1,500 people and pardoning 39 Americans convicted of non-violent crimes.

In a statement issued on Thursday, the White House said that Biden’s sweeping act of clemency was designed to “help reunite families, strengthen communities, and reintegrate individuals back into society”.

The almost 1,500 commutations ordered by the president all relate to people who were released from prisons and placed in home confinement during the Covid pandemic. Thousands of prisoners were released to their homes as an emergency measure under the Cares Act to prevent the rapid spread of coronavirus through federal prisons.

Each individual included in the new commutations had been serving their sentences at home for at least a year and had shown they were reunited with their families and were committed to rehabilitation, the White House said.

“These commutation recipients have successfully reintegrated into their families and communities and have shown that they deserve a second chance,” they continued.

The commutations come at a time when Republicans in Congress have been pressing to send thousands of federal prisoners on home release back behind bars. Criminal justice reformers have protested that the home release program has been highly successful, with a rate of new offending at a mere fraction of the overall recidivism rate in federal prisons.

Under the commutations, the almost 1,500 Americans will retain their convictions but have their sentences reduced. The 39 people pardoned by Biden have had their guilty verdicts wholly erased.

The White House said the 39 were all individuals convicted of non-violent crimes, including drug offenses. Among them were a woman who led emergency response teams during natural disasters; a church deacon who had worked as an addiction and youth counsellor; a doctoral student in molecular biosciences; and a decorated military veteran.

“As president, I have the great privilege of extending mercy to people who have demonstrated remorse and rehabilitation, restoring opportunity for Americans to participate in daily life and contribute to their communities, and taking steps to remove sentencing disparities for non-violent offenders, especially those convicted of drug offences,” Biden said.

The sweeping act of clemency brings the number of pardons and commutations ordered by Biden during his four-year presidential term to almost 1,700. That is in range of Barack Obama, who showed clemency – mainly in the form of commutations – to 1,927 people across his two terms.

Obama can claim credit for having carried out the second-largest single-day act of clemency, having commuted the sentences of 330 federal inmates convicted of drug crimes as one of his final acts in office in 2017.

In his first presidency, Donald Trump pardoned only 144 people and commuted the sentences of 94. But many of those acts were highly controversial, including pardons for members of his extended family such as Charles Kushner, father of Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner who has now been tapped to become US ambassador to France, and close advisers like Steve Bannon.

The president-elect has also vowed to pardon many of those convicted of crimes relating to the violent storming of the US Capitol on 6 January 2021.

Biden’s record on clemency is not without its own controversies. Earlier this month he issued a full pardon to his son Hunter Biden relating to federal gun and tax convictions, despite having repeatedly pledged not to do so.

The move prompted sharp criticism, even from Democratic supporters. The decision has proven to be deeply unpopular with Americans, with only about 20% giving their approval in a recent Associated Press poll.

The White House said that before Biden steps down on 20 January he intends to wield his presidential clemency power again: “In the coming weeks, the President will take additional steps to provide meaningful second chances and continue to review additional pardons and commutations.”

It is not clear whether Biden will use his pardon power to protect people who may face possible prosecution by Trump as an act of revenge by the returning president. Biden is taking the idea of such preemptive pardons seriously, according to Associated Press, but is concerned that it might set a damaging precedent.

Adam Schiff, the newly seated US senator from California who led the congressional investigation into the January 6 insurrection, has pushed back against the idea, saying that preemptive pardons do not make sense.

“I think this is frankly so implausible as not to be worthy of much consideration. I would urge the president not to do that. I think it would seem defensive and unnecessary,” he has said.

The knowledge that Biden has yet to complete his round of clemencies leaves a sliver of hope alive for the 40 men who are currently on federal death row in Terre Haute, Indiana, who are fearful about Trump’s return. In the final weeks of his first presidential term, Trump presided over the executions of 13 federal prisoners – more than the previous 10 presidents combined – and he has indicated a desire to execute all remaining federal capital prisoners once he is back in the Oval Office.

This week Pope Francis and hundreds of capital punishment advocates including Catholic leaders and Black pastors added to the call on Biden to use his executive powers to commute federal death row sentences to spare the lives of the men.