By Kolawole Ojebisi
Barely seventy-two hours to his handing over of the reins of power to his successor elected on the platform of the opposition Republican Party, Donald Trump, President Joe Biden has commuted the sentences of nearly 2,500 people convicted of non-violent drug offences.
The outgoing president took the decision, which the White House described as ” the largest single-day act of clemency in US history” on Friday.
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.
Biden reportedly 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 also reportedly been mulling the idea whether to issue blanket pardons for some allies and former officials amid fears they could be targeted for what Trump has previously called “retribution.”
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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