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Long overdue ....
“I take my clemency authority very seriously,” President Obama reportedly told a group of U.S. attorneys at a meeting last month at the White House. You wouldn’t know it from his record thus far. While he has recently seem a new spurt of activity, granting commutations to eight drug offenders, and another last week who received a longer sentence by accident, he nonetheless has the worst record of granting presidential mercy to those in prison of any president in modern history.
But Obama says he plans to correct for this stingy use of his pardon power, potentially granting clemency to hundreds or even thousands of non-violent drug offenders before he leaves office, an unnamed administration official told Yahoo News. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced Monday that the Justice Department will release new standards for assessing clemency applications, in line with this new effort.
“The White House has indicated it wants to consider additional clemency applications, to restore a degree of justice, fairness and proportionality for deserving individuals who do not pose a threat to public safety,” Holder said in a video message. “The Justice Department is committed to recommending as many qualified applicants as possible for reduced sentences.”
Many of the drug offenders who would likely have their sentences shortened by the White House were sentenced under draconian sentencing regimes that mandated decades in prison even as many judges giving those sentences lamented that their hands were tied. Many of these individuals would be given lesser sentences if they were convicted today.
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2014/04/21/3428907/white-house-announces-plan-to-consider-shortening-drug-offenders-prison-sentences-en-masse/
“I take my clemency authority very seriously,” President Obama reportedly told a group of U.S. attorneys at a meeting last month at the White House. You wouldn’t know it from his record thus far. While he has recently seem a new spurt of activity, granting commutations to eight drug offenders, and another last week who received a longer sentence by accident, he nonetheless has the worst record of granting presidential mercy to those in prison of any president in modern history.
But Obama says he plans to correct for this stingy use of his pardon power, potentially granting clemency to hundreds or even thousands of non-violent drug offenders before he leaves office, an unnamed administration official told Yahoo News. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced Monday that the Justice Department will release new standards for assessing clemency applications, in line with this new effort.
“The White House has indicated it wants to consider additional clemency applications, to restore a degree of justice, fairness and proportionality for deserving individuals who do not pose a threat to public safety,” Holder said in a video message. “The Justice Department is committed to recommending as many qualified applicants as possible for reduced sentences.”
Many of the drug offenders who would likely have their sentences shortened by the White House were sentenced under draconian sentencing regimes that mandated decades in prison even as many judges giving those sentences lamented that their hands were tied. Many of these individuals would be given lesser sentences if they were convicted today.
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2014/04/21/3428907/white-house-announces-plan-to-consider-shortening-drug-offenders-prison-sentences-en-masse/
