Back in July, Barack Obama commuted the sentences of 46 non-violent drug offenders, many of whom were serving life sentences for crimes that today would be given a slap on the wrist.
Hey, decency. It’s a great thing, you know.
Obama promised to continue the movement, and today he granted more clemencies, commuting the sentences of 61 other prisoners in federal custody.
“The power to grant pardons and commutations embodies the basic belief in our democracy that people deserve a second chance after having made a mistake in their lives,” Obama said in announcing the newest round.
There are still 9,000 more people who applied for clemency after the administration announced a plan in 2014 to commute harsh sentences for non-violent drug offenders, calling them ‘draconian.’
Meanwhile, a couple days earlier, Obama spoke at length about America’s War on Drugs. He argued that treatment, not punishment, was the only successful, proven way to address the problem.
WATCH: @POTUS: Drug abuse needs to be treated as "public health problem," not just as criminal justice problem. https://t.co/ES0Ib1owmz
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) March 29, 2016
Thank god we finally have a president who can see this bullshit for what it really is.
[Via The Washington Post]