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Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Obama Commutes Over 200 Federal Sentences

(CN) — President Barack Obama on Wednesday shortened the sentences of 214 inmates jailed for mostly nonviolent drug offenses, bringing the total number of sentences commuted under his administration to over 560.

The decision marks the most commutations in a single day since at least 1900.

The White House says Obama has now commuted 562 total individual sentences, which it says is more than the past nine presidents combined. Nearly 200 of those people were serving life sentences.

Sixty-seven of those granted clemency Wednesday were serving life sentences. Many of the inmates whose sentences were commuted will be released by the end of the year.

Obama has also granted 70 pardons during his time in office. A pardon is an executive order granting clemency after a sentence has been completed, which typically restores an offender's civil rights. A commutation is the mitigation of a sentence without vacating the underlying conviction.

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