President Barack Obama reduced the prison sentences of 95 inmates. The president doubled the number of commutations he has granted since taking office in the White House.
Most of the petitions Barack Obama signed off involves drug-related offenses and forty inmates were serving life sentences. According to The Wall Street Journal, forty inmates are mostly tied to cocaine.
However his hearty practice of clemency did not extend to pardons. The US president announced that he pardoned Melody Eileen Homa of Virginia convicted of aiding and abetting bank fraud in 1991 and Jon Dylan Girard of Ohio who was convicted of making counterfeit obligations in 2002. The two neither received any prison time.
Barack Obama still has one year to reside in the office. The public seems to find the president's burst of compassion at the end of his term very uncommon. He has granted only 66 out of 2,000 petitions for pardons. Thus, denying 1,629.
The commutations are considered to be a keynote of Obama's effort to make the most significant changes in America's criminal justice system in recent years. Together with Eric H. Holder Jr., the president have spoken fervently regarding the need to fix what they say is a malfunctioning system.
In an effort to give reduce drug offenders who were harshly sentenced in the nation's battle against drugs. Obama said, "I commuted the sentences of 95 men and women who had served their debt to society, another step forward in upholding our ideals of justice and fairness,"
President Ronal Reagan was known to have granted pardons close to 400.Meanwhile, President George H.W Bush pardoned 74 people during his term while Bill Clinton and George W. Bush pardoned 396 and 189 respectively.
Commutation reduces a sentence but it is does not erase a criminal conviction, which is different from presidential pardon. While there might be oppositions, Barack Obama did surely surprised the public with this bold move.
