President Joe Biden is commuting the sentences of about 1,500 people who were released from prison and placed under house arrest during the coronavirus pandemic and pardoning 39 Americans convicted of non-violent offences, the largest act of clemency in a single day in modern history, the White House website said.
The US president clarified that he will take additional steps in the coming weeks. The Biden administration will continue to review clemency applications to ensure equal justice under the law, promote public safety, support the rehabilitation of convicts, return them to society, and provide prisoners with second chances.
On December 1, 2024, Biden signed an executive order pardoning his son Hunter. The US leader’s statement said Hunter’s prosecutions had been politicised. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre had said in press conferences six times in the past year and a half that Biden would not interfere in the legal proceedings related to his son.
After the decision, she pointed out the system’s double standard and recalled that she had repeatedly said the case would have been handled differently if the defendant had not been the president’s son.
