President Obama is hoping to partially restore faith in the criminal justice system by possibly granting clemency to “hundreds, perhaps thousands” of people behind bars for nonviolent drug crimes.
The President, whose pardon rate is the “lowest in recent history” according to ProPublica, was not pleased that he wasn’t getting a lot of positive clemency petitions. Liz Goodwin at Yahoo noted, “The president complained that the pardon attorney’s office favored petitions from wealthy and connected people, who had good lawyers and knew how to game the system.”
So President Obama talked with AG Eric Holder over a series of meetings to determine how he could legally use his vast pardoning powers to enact some reform – hence the upcoming pardon palooza, according to a Yahoo report published Monday.
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Before Republicans scream that Obama is just helping black people (and why would this be a problem since white presidents have historically helped white men?), Goodwin wrote, “Obama’s clemency push is meant to correct a broad set of inequities in the criminal-justice system, not just those that are racial.”
Continuing: “A senior administration official tells Yahoo News the president could grant clemency to “hundreds, perhaps thousands” of people locked up for nonviolent drug crimes by the time he leaves office — a stunning number that hasn’t been seen since Gerald Ford extended amnesty to Vietnam draft dodgers in the 1970s.”
The plans are so enormous that they are preparing “a series of personnel and process changes to help them manage the influx of petitions they expect Obama to approve.” Furthermore, “Among the changes is reforming the recently censured office within the Justice Department responsible for processing pardon petitions. Yahoo News has learned that the pardon attorney, Ronald Rodgers, who was criticized in a 2012 Internal watchdog report for mishandling a high-profile clemency petition, is likely to step down as part of that overhaul. Additional procedures for handling large numbers of clemency petitions could be announced as soon as this week, a senior administration official said, though it could take longer.”
In December of 2012, the President earned a “Promise Kept” from PolitiFact because he kept a promise to send first time nonviolent drug offenders to rehab over jail. “(T)he administration has supported drug courts, which allow low-level drug offenders to have their charges dropped if they successfully complete a court-monitored treatment program.”
It seems probable that the now resigning post scandal Pardon Attorney favored the wealthy (seems likely given our justice system biases and the internal investigation findings of “mishandling”), but it’s also likely that in addition, the President was hesitant to use his pardon powers in his first term. Just imagine the Republican outrage over the first black President releasing drug criminals. It’s not fair or right, but this is the world we live in. That could have seriously derailed his first term, especially if even one of the pardoned committed a violent crime post pardon.
It is this kind of political reality that keeps even big time liberal Senators voting against closing Gitmo – no one wants to be responsible for the potential fallout if the prisoners are transferred to their area.
President Obama is a smart political animal, so he has carefully studied what he can legally do to bring about the change he wants to see in the criminal justice system – and he is planning on a pardon palooza to that end, in his second term. Finally, a great injustice will be righted for some.
Image: Getty Images
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