The Sentencing Project Applauds President Biden’s Commutations for People Serving Extreme Sentences, But Urges Further Action
President Biden commuted the sentences of 11 people who are serving extreme sentences for drug offenses. The Sentencing Project applauds the commutations, but urges further action from the Biden Administration in reducing federal incarceration levels.
Related to: Sentencing Reform
Washington, DC – Today, President Biden announced that his Administration will commute the sentences of 11 people who are serving extreme sentences for drug offenses. All of them would have been eligible to receive significantly lower sentences if they were charged with the same offense today. President Biden also issued a proclamation that pardons citizens or permanent legal residents charged or convicted of simple possession and use of marijuana under federal and D.C. law.
Kara Gotsch, Acting Executive Director for The Sentencing Project, released the following statement:
“Twenty years or a sentence of life without the possibility of parole for a drug offense is cruel and exceptional to the United States’s criminal legal system. The Sentencing Project applauds President Biden’s sentence reductions for 11 people who are serving extreme sentences, and urges him to expand his clemency efforts.
“President Biden pledged to cut federal incarceration levels in half but the prison population is again on the rise and elderly individuals represent the fastest-growing portion of the federal prison population.
“A wealth of criminological evidence shows that people age out of crime and that lengthy prison sentences keep people behind bars long after they have demonstrated full rehabilitation and readiness to successfully reenter society. Today’s humane step should lead to broader opportunities for elderly individuals to leave prison who no longer threaten public safety.
“This year marked 50 years of mass incarceration in the United States. The prison population has grown 500% since 1973, and today, more than two million people – disproportionately Black Americans – are incarcerated. We must correct course and abandon this failed experiment with mass incarceration, which hasn’t made us any safer and has torn apart countless families and communities. The Sentencing Project hopes that these commutations signal the beginning of more meaningful reform being taken by the Biden Administration.”
