Who did Biden pardon? Whose sentences did he commute? Insights from the president’s record-breaking day of grace.

President Biden announced Thursday that he is commuting the sentences of about 1,500 people who were released from prison and placed on home confinement during the pandemic; He also pardoned 39 Americans convicted of nonviolent crimes, in what the White House called the “largest one-day act of clemency in modern history.”

“America was built on the promise of opportunity and second chances,” Biden said in a statement. “As President, I have the great privilege of showing mercy to people who have shown remorse and rehabilitation, restoring the opportunity for Americans to participate in daily life and contribute to their communities, and taking steps to restore the… “To eliminate disparities in sentencing of non-violent offenders, particularly those convicted of drug offenses.”

Although pardons and commutations are often announced together, they are different. A commutation is the reduction of a sentence but does not completely exonerate the person from the crime. A pardon is the complete forgiveness of a crime and restores full U.S. citizenship rights that may have been limited by a conviction, such as the right to hold public office or vote.

The most pardons by a president in a single day occurred in 2017, when President Barack Obama shortened the sentences of 330 nonviolent drug offenders.

According to the Pew Research Center, Franklin D. Roosevelt has issued the most pardons, 2,819, of the 21 presidents in office since 1900.

Whose sentences were commuted?

According to the White House, the 1,499 people who received sentencing commutations Thursday had already been serving their sentences at home under the COVID-era CARES Act for at least a year and “have demonstrated their commitment to rehabilitation through securing a job and the promotion of their training has been demonstrated”. ”

Biden said many of them “would have received lesser sentences had they been charged under today’s laws, policies and practices” and had “successfully reintegrated into their families and communities.”

The White House has released a list of all 1,499 names, which you can see here.

Who received pardons?

The 39 people pardoned by Biden were convicted of nonviolent crimes, mostly drug offenses, and “demonstrated their commitment to making their communities stronger and safer,” the president said.

The names of all 39 were released by the White House. They range in age from 36 to 79 and many are military veterans. This includes:

• Brandon Sergio Castroflay, a 49-year-old U.S. Army veteran from Alexandria, Virginia, who was convicted of nonviolent drug offenses at age 21. Castroflay now “volunteers with several charities that support Gold Star families and wounded service members,” according to the White House.

• Shannan Rae Faulkner, a 56-year-old from Muldrow, Oklahoma, who successfully completed her sentence for a nonviolent drug offense and now works as a “counselor and recovery coach for female trauma victims and people with disabilities,” according to the White House newspaper.

• Gary Michael Robinson, a 70-year-old U.S. Army veteran from Redmond, Oregon, who “has built a successful firefighting and habitat protection business” since his conviction on a nonviolent drug offense, the White House said.

What is Biden’s rationale for these acts of clemency?

According to the White House, President Biden has made more commutations than any other current president at this point in his first term.

As of Thursday, Biden had issued 122 pardons and 21 additional pardons, mostly for people with nonviolent drug offenses. (During his first term, Donald Trump granted clemency to 237 people, including 144 on his last day in office.)

“The President is committed to granting clemency to individuals convicted of nonviolent crimes who, as a result of outdated laws, policies and practices, have been sentenced to longer prison sentences than if the individuals were convicted today,” the White House said in a statement.

And Biden was the first president to broadly categorically pardon people convicted of simple use or possession of marijuana on federal lands, as well as U.S. soldiers convicted of a now-repealed military ban on consensual gay sex.

What about the Hunter Biden pardon?

Earlier this month, the president caused controversy when he pardoned his son Hunter Biden after previously flatly saying he would not do so.

The announcement came weeks before Hunter Biden was set to be sentenced following his conviction on federal gun and tax crimes.

“I believe in the justice system,” Biden said in a statement announcing Hunter’s pardon. “But as I have wrestled with this, I also believe that raw politics has infected this process and led to a miscarriage of justice.”

The younger Biden was convicted in June of three felonies related to a 2018 gun purchase while he was addicted to crack cocaine. Prosecutors said Hunter Biden lied about his crack addiction on his application to buy the firearm and that he illegally possessed the handgun for 11 days.

Hunter Biden has been open about his struggles with addiction and his recovery. He was scheduled to stand trial in California on federal tax charges but agreed to plead guilty in early September when jury selection was set to begin, saying he wanted to spare his family the pain of another trial.

What’s next?

Biden has reportedly been considering whether to issue preemptive pardons before he leaves office to people Trump has threatened with retaliation, including Sen. Adam Schiff, former Rep. Liz Cheney, special counsel Jack Smith and Dr. Anthony Fauci.

In his statement Thursday, Biden said he would “take further steps in the coming weeks” and that his administration would “continue to consider clemency petitions to advance equal justice under the law, promote public safety, support rehabilitation and reintegration, and meaningful.” “To take action on second chances.”