PNN – US President Joe Biden announced on Thursday that he would commute the sentences of about 1,500 people and grant clemency to 39 people convicted of non-violent crimes, marking the broadest use of the president’s pardon power just weeks before the end of the administration.
According to the report of Pakistan News Network, the officials of the White House consider this act of the current Democratic President of the United States, Joe Biden, who is in the last days of his presidency, to be the largest act of one-day pardon in modern history.
The president, who has come under increasing pressure to grant more pardons before leaving office and controversially pardoned his son Hunter Biden earlier this month, also promised that more would be announced in the coming weeks.
The 1,500 people whose long sentences will be commuted on Thursday were placed under house arrest during the coronavirus pandemic, CNN reported, citing sources, in what appears to be a clear commitment to rehabilitation and reintegration have shown again in their communities.
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The 39 people who were pardoned were convicted of non-violent crimes and appeared to have a record of meaningful service to the country.
A government official told CNN: They are people who have secured jobs, advanced their education, taken care of their children and family members, and truly reintegrated into their communities. They consist of people who have faced incredible challenges in life and have really now shown the resilience and effort to overcome those challenges.
With less than six weeks left in Biden’s term, the president is expected to issue more pardons.
Biden said: I will take more steps in the coming weeks. My government will continue to consider amnesty applications to advance justice under the law, promote public safety, support rehabilitation and re-entry into society, and provide meaningful second chances.
According to CNN, Biden has consulted with White House counsel Ed Sickle and lawyers in his counsel’s office about a range of pardon options. The White House counsel’s office has also been consulting with the Ministry of Justice’s amnesty prosecutor’s office.