On Wednesday, President Obama took action by shortening the prison sentences of eight federal drug offenders, of which four of the offenders had been condemned to life in prison. All will be released next year.
These commutations come as a result of an administration initiative to increase the number of clemency requests it reviews from low-level, non-violent inmates. Many of these inmates are serving long sentences that were a result of tough federal sentencing guidelines that have since changed.
Deputy Attorney General James M. Cole said that the eight people who had received commutes had met a set of criteria laid out by the Justice Department. The criteria requires that they must be low-level offenders with no significant criminal history or ties to gangs, have served at least 10 years in prison and would have gotten lesser punishments had they been sentenced today.
“For our criminal justice system to be effective, it needs to not only be fair, but it also must be perceived as being fair,” Cole explained. “The Justice Department will continue to identify applicants whom we can recommend to the president for commutation.”
Cole pointed out that the individuals pardoned had been sentenced under “outdated and unfair laws.” According to him, the eight people would have been sentenced to less time in prison if their cases were tried today.
In 2010, Obama signed the Fair Sentencing Act, which reduced the sentencing disparities between offenses involving crack cocaine and powder cocaine. However, thousands of people sentenced before the change are still serving federally mandated sentences for trafficking or the intent to traffic crack cocaine. Obama has called sentences under those guidelines “unduly harsh.”
In addition to the eight commutations on Wednesday, Obama also granted pardons to 12 people, including an Illinois man who operated an unregistered distilling apparatus, a Colorado man who filed a false tax return, a Pennsylvania woman convicted of conspiring to manufacture and distribute methamphetamine and a Colorado man convicted of violating the Archeological Resources Protection Act.
