Biden commutes nearly 1,500 sentences, pardons 39 people

White House says move marks largest act of clemency in a single day in modern US history.

United States President Joe Biden has commuted nearly 1,500 prison sentences and pardoned 39 people in what the White House has described as the largest act of clemency in a single day in the country’s modern history.

In a statement on Thursday, Biden said he chose to pardon 39 people “who have shown successful rehabilitation” as well as a “commitment to making their communities stronger and safer”.

“I am also commuting the sentences of nearly 1,500 people who are serving long prison sentences – many of whom would receive lower sentences if charged under today’s laws, policies, and practices,” he said.

The commutations were for people who were placed on home confinement during the COVID-19 pandemic, the White House said.

Thursday’s announcement came less than two weeks after Biden pardoned his son Hunter for firearms and tax convictions after pledging that he wouldn’t do so.

Republicans seized on that decision, attacking the Democratic president for using his power to shield a family member from legal judgements. They accused Biden of enforcing a separate standard of justice for those with political connections.

The Biden administration rejected those allegations, saying Hunter Biden’s prosecution was political in nature.

The pardon spurred renewed calls for President Biden, who will leave office in January when President-elect Donald Trump is inaugurated, to pardon and commute the sentences of thousands of people who have submitted clemency petitions.

“Before you leave the White House, you must act on your words that ‘America is a nation founded on the promise of second chances’ by prioritizing an ambitious clemency initiative that pardons or commutes the sentences of the approximately 10,000 pending clemency petitions,” dozens of progressive groups wrote in an open letter to Biden last week.

They called on Biden to use his clemency powers “in a broad sweep of categories of people and cases”, including the elderly and chronically ill, people on death row and those first incarcerated as minors.

“We urge you to take immediate action so that you may leave a more meaningful legacy than the current numbers reflect,” the organisations said.

Those pardoned on Thursday had been convicted of nonviolent crimes such as drug offences and turned their lives around, the White House said.

They include a woman who led emergency response teams during natural disasters, a church deacon who has worked as an addiction counsellor and youth counsellor, a doctoral student in molecular biosciences and a decorated military veteran.

In Thursday’s statement, Biden said he would “take more steps in the weeks ahead” and continue to review clemency petitions.

The president had previously issued 122 commutations and 21 other pardons.

He has also broadly pardoned those convicted of use and simple possession of marijuana on federal lands and in the District of Columbia and pardoned former US service members convicted of violating a now-repealed military ban on consensual gay sex.