Declaring US to be 'a nation of second chances,' Obama commutes sentences of 46 drug offenders
President Barack Obama commuted the sentences of 46 drug offenders on Monday, saying the United States “is a nation of second chances and I believe these folks deserve their second chance.”
Nearly all of the offenders would have already served their time if convicted of the same crime today, according to NPR, which lists the offenders and their offenses. James Ledford, profiled in an ABA Journal article about pro bono efforts supporting clemency requests, is not among them.
“These men and women were not hardened criminals, but the overwhelming majority had been sentenced to at least 20 years,” Obama said in a Facebook video. “So their punishments didn’t fit the crime.” The announcements kicked off a week in which Obama will be focusing on criminal justice reform.
The commutations were the most issued in a single day since 1935, according to the New York Times. Obama has issued a total of 89 commutations, the most since President Lyndon B. Johnson commuted 226 sentences. The Washington Post and the National Law Journal (sub. req.) also have stories.
Four of those pardoned had their petitions reviewed, supported, prepared and submitted by Clemency Project 2014, according to press releases here and here.
Clemency Project 2014 is a volunteer group formed through the support of the ABA, the American Civil Liberties Union, Families Against Mandatory Minimums, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, and the Federal Public and Community Defenders.
The group was formed after former Deputy Attorney General James Cole asked the legal profession to provide free assistance to help identify prisoners who should be considered for commuted sentences. Cole said the applications would be evaluated under guidelines calling for the inmates to be nonviolent, low-level offenders who had good conduct in prison and who were serving sentences that would most likely be lower if they had been convicted today.
ABA President William C. Hubbard applauded the commutations. “We are extremely gratified by the president’s actions today and proud of the ongoing role that the American Bar Association, through its participation in Clemency Project 2014, is playing in making these grants of clemency possible,” Hubbard said in the press release. “The project is committed to providing a volunteer lawyer to review every potentially eligible case. We look forward to the president’s continuing efforts to grant relief to deserving federal prisoners who present no danger to the public and who would already have been released if sentenced under the laws and policies in effect today.”
BREAKING: President Obama just granted clemency to 46 men and women whose sentences didn't fit their crimes. Nearly all of these individuals would have already served their time and returned to society if they were convicted of the exact same crime today: http://go.wh.gov/KtwU7f
Posted by The White House on Monday, July 13, 2015
