Biden commutes nearly 1,500 sentences, pardons 39 people
Al JazeeraWhite House says move marks largest act of clemency in a single day in modern US history. United States President Joe Biden has commuted nearly 1,500 prison sentences and pardoned 39 people in what the White House has described as the largest act of clemency in a single day in the country’s modern history. “I am also commuting the sentences of nearly 1,500 people who are serving long prison sentences – many of whom would receive lower sentences if charged under today’s laws, policies, and practices,” he said. The pardon spurred renewed calls for President Biden, who will leave office in January when President-elect Donald Trump is inaugurated, to pardon and commute the sentences of thousands of people who have submitted clemency petitions. “Before you leave the White House, you must act on your words that ‘America is a nation founded on the promise of second chances’ by prioritizing an ambitious clemency initiative that pardons or commutes the sentences of the approximately 10,000 pending clemency petitions,” dozens of progressive groups wrote in an open letter to Biden last week.