Headline Roundup • December 12th, 2024
Biden Grants Clemency to 1,500 in Largest Single-Day Act of Clemency in Modern History
Summary from the AllSides News Team
President Biden announced in a statement Thursday that he will commute the sentences of around 1,500 people and pardon 39 people convicted of nonviolent crimes.
The Details: The commutations are for those who successfully reintegrated into the community after being released from prison and placed in home confinement during the pandemic in an effort to stop COVID-19 from spreading in prisons.
Key Quote: “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 nonviolent offenders, especially those convicted of drug offenses,” Biden said. The president said he would continue to review clemency petitions in the coming weeks.
For Context: The previous single-day clemency record was set by Barack Obama in 2017, granting 330. Biden's clemency announcement follows bipartisan criticism for pardoning his son, Hunter Biden.
How the Media Covered It: Fox News (Right bias) focused half of its article on Hunter Biden's pardon. Other outlets across the political spectrum mentioned the Hunter Biden pardon, anti-capital punishment advocacy groups, and Democratic lawmakers encouraging him to pardon President-elect Trump as factors pressuring Biden to use his executive power.
Featured Coverage of this Story
Susan Walsh/AP/File
President Joe Biden announced Thursday that he is commuting the sentences of some 1,500 individuals and pardoning 39 people convicted of non-violent crimes – marking a broad use of the presidential clemency power just weeks from the end of Biden’s administration.
White House officials are billing Thursday’s move as the biggest single-day act of clemency in modern history. The president, who has come under growing pressure to grant more clemencies before he leaves office, also promised that additional action will be announced in the weeks to come.
President Biden will commute the sentences of around 1,500 people, in the largest single-day act of clemency for any president in modern U.S. history.
The commutations, announced in a statement Thursday, are for people who were released from prison and placed in home confinement during the Covid-19 pandemic. In addition to the commutations, Biden is also pardoning 39 Americans convicted of nonviolent crimes.
Prisons became fertile breeding grounds for infection during the pandemic and some inmates were released in efforts to stop the virus from spreading. The commutations are for...
President Biden has commuted jail sentences for nearly 1,500 people and granted 39 pardons, marking the largest single-day act of clemency in modern history, the White House announced Thursday morning.
Sentences were commuted for inmates placed on home confinement during the COVID-19 pandemic and who "have successfully reintegrated into their families and communities," according to the announcement. The 39 individuals pardoned were convicted of non-violent crimes, the White House said.
"The President has issued more sentence commutations at this point in his presidency than any of his recent predecessors at the same point...
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