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July 13, 2015
Prez Obama commutes sentences for 46 federal drug prisoners (with a video message)
Neil Eggleston, Counsel to the President, has this new White House Blog posting titled "President Obama Announces 46 Commutations in Video Address: 'America Is a Nation of Second Chances'." Here is the text of the posting, with links worth following:
As a former Assistant U.S. Attorney and criminal defense attorney, I'm well acquainted with how federal sentencing practices can, in too many instances, lead nonviolent drug offenders to spend decades, if not life, in prison. Now, don't get me wrong, many people are justly punished for causing harm and perpetuating violence in our communities. But, in some cases, the punishment required by law far exceeded the offense.
These unduly harsh sentences are one of the reasons the President is committed to using all the tools at his disposal to remedy unfairness in our criminal justice system. Today, he is continuing this effort by granting clemency to 46 men and women, nearly all of whom would have already served their time and returned to society if they were convicted of the exact same crime today.
In a video released today, the President underscored the responsibility and opportunity that comes with a commutation.
The President also shared his thoughts in a personal letter written to each of the 46 individuals receiving a commutation today.
In taking this step, the President has now issued nearly 90 commutations, the vast majority of them to non-violent offenders sentenced for drug crimes under outdated sentencing rules.
While I expect the President will issue additional commutations and pardons before the end of his term, it is important to recognize that clemency alone will not fix decades of overly punitive sentencing policies. Tune in tomorrow as the President shares additional thoughts on how, working together, we can bring greater fairness to our criminal justice system while keeping our communities safe in an address to the NAACP.
A list of the 46 lucky individuals receiving clemency today can be found here. A too quick review of the list suggests that the vast majority of those receiving clemency today were convicted of crack offenses, though I did notice a couple of marijuana offenders in the group.
July 13, 2015 at 01:37 PM | Permalink
Comments
There is also one gentleman among the commutations who was convicted of firearms offenses, 18 USC 924(c) and 922(g). It would be interesting to know how those offenses were addressed in his petition, as they somewhat undermine the claim that these are all strictly "non-violent" offenders.
I would also be interested to know how many of these petitioners went through CP 14, as opposed to some other route.
Posted by: Atticus | Jul 13, 2015 2:53:28 PM
This President is damned if he does and damned if he doesnt.
Posted by: Liberty1st | Jul 14, 2015 4:53:20 AM
