In one of his final acts in office, President Joe Biden has granted clemency to nearly 2,500 nonviolent drug offenders, making him the U.S. president with the most individual pardons and commutations in history. The announcement came on Friday, just days before his term officially ends, and marks a historic moment in Biden’s presidency.
The move is part of a broader effort to address sentencing disparities that have disproportionately impacted Black and Brown communities for decades. Biden stated that the clemency recipients were “serving disproportionately long sentences compared to the sentences they would receive today under current law, policy, and practice.”
While Biden did not disclose specific details about the exact number of individuals affected or the timeline for their release, he emphasized that the decision targets individuals convicted of nonviolent drug offenses, particularly those impacted by outdated distinctions between crack and powder cocaine sentencing.
“Today’s clemency action provides relief for individuals who received lengthy sentences based on discredited distinctions between crack and powder cocaine, as well as outdated sentencing enhancements for drug crimes,” Biden wrote in his statement.
The disparities in sentencing between crack and powder cocaine offenses date back to the 1980s when harsher penalties were enacted for crack cocaine—disproportionately used in Black communities—compared to powder cocaine, which was more common among white users. Biden himself supported some of those laws during his tenure as a senator, including policies that imposed stricter penalties for crack users.
In recent years, Congress has worked to address these injustices through bipartisan measures like the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010, which reduced the sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine from 100:1 to 18:1, and the First Step Act of 2018, which further reformed mandatory minimum sentences.
“This action is an important step toward righting historic wrongs, correcting sentencing disparities, and providing deserving individuals the opportunity to return to their families and communities after spending far too much time behind bars,” Biden said.
Biden acknowledged the historical significance of his actions in Friday’s announcement, stating, “With this action, I have now issued more individual pardons and commutations than any president in U.S. history.”
While this clemency action represents a major milestone, Biden hinted that he is not done using his presidential pardon power. “I will continue to review additional commutations and pardons,” he wrote, suggesting that further relief for incarcerated individuals could be on the horizon.
