Outgoing US President Joe Biden has decided to reduce sentences for about 1,500 people who were released from prison during the coronavirus pandemic and are under house arrest, as well as to pardon 39 Americans convicted of non-violent crimes. This is the largest number of reduced sentences and pardons in a single day in modern US history, AP reports.
Sentences were reduced for people who had been under house arrest for at least a year after being released from prison. During the pandemic, the virus spread rapidly in prisons and some inmates were released to house arrest, in part to stop the spread of the infection. At one point, one in five inmates had COVID-19, according to AP.
Today, I’m pardoning 39 people with non-violent crimes who have demonstrated remorse and rehabilitation, and I’m commuting the sentences of nearly 1,500 others – many of whom would have received lower sentences today.
— President Biden (@POTUS) December 12, 2024
America was built on second chances. That's what these… pic.twitter.com/OigPcN8qkJ
Biden announced that he will take further steps in the coming weeks and will continue to consider requests for sentence reductions and pardons. Former President Barack Obama previously held the record for the number of reduced sentences and pardons in a single day – 330. Like Biden, he made the decision shortly before leaving office in 2017.
“America is built on opportunity and second chances. As president, I have the great privilege of pardoning people who have repented and rehabilitated themselves, allowing them to participate in everyday life and contribute to their communities, as well as taking steps to eliminate unequal sentences for nonviolent offenders, especially those convicted of drug-related crimes,” Biden said in a statement.
FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK:
Among those pardoned on Thursday were people convicted of non-violent crimes such as drug possession who have managed to change their lives, White House lawyers said. Among them is a woman who led emergency response teams during natural disasters, a clergyman who worked as an addiction counselor, a molecular biosciences doctoral student, and a decorated military veteran.
The list of people whose sentences were reduced reportedly includes a Chinese national charged with possession of child pornography.
Biden had previously reduced 122 sentences and pardoned 21 people. He also pardoned those convicted of using and possessing marijuana on federal land and in the nation’s capital, as well as a former soldier convicted of violating a military ban on same-sex sexual relations, which was later repealed.
*THIS* is who Joe Biden is pardoning.
— Kyle Becker (@kylenabecker) December 12, 2024
Jin Shanlin. A Chinese spy found with 47,000 files of child p*rnography pic.twitter.com/QTEcxTVykL
US presidents have the power to grant pardons, which exonerate people of a crime and its punishment, or to reduce sentences, which does not mean that someone has been absolved of responsibility for a crime. In America, it is customary for presidents to make decisions about pardons and sentence reductions at the end of their term.
Before pardoning his son, Biden had repeatedly said he would not do so. In a statement explaining why he changed his mind, he said the judiciary had been poisoned by politics.
However, the move was not very popular – only about 20 percent of Americans supported it, according to an AP-NORC Public Affairs Research Center poll.
READ MORE:
“NO ONE CAN DENY”: Croatia officially acknowledges genocide against Serbs in ISH (NDH)
SERBS DELIGHTED: American christmas movie filmed in popular Serbian mountain! (VIDEO)
Source: Glas Amerike, Photo: AP