Log In


Reset Password
Opinion Editorial Cartoons Op-Ed Editorials Letters to the Editor

Nonviolent crimes

Commutations signal first step in resolving sentencing problems

President Barack Obama on Wednesday granted clemency to eight convicted drug offenders whose sentences his Justice Department has deemed far too harsh for the crimes committed. It is a signal of much more to come, and is a move in the right direction in correcting overly harsh sentencing guidelines from decades past.

In April, Obama directed the U.S. Justice Department to craft new rules that expand clemency opportunities for drug offenders condemned under the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986, which established mandatory minimum sentencing laws for a number of drug offenses. Congress passed the bill when crack-cocaine use – and related crime – soared in some American cities. That law, among other things, made punishment for crack-cocaine offenses far more severe than for crimes associated with powder cocaine, despite their being chemically indistinguishable. Mandatory minimum sentences have disproportionately affected Hispanic and black Americans, and have done little to reduce crime rates while at the same time contributing to a booming prison population. In 2010, Congress passed – and Obama signed – the Fair Sentencing Act, which realigned punishments meted for crack, cocaine and other drugs, but the law did not apply retroactively. The president’s new sentencing guidelines, and the commutation announcement begins to address that disparity.

The eight sentences Obama commuted Wednesday meet the new Justice Department guidelines requiring that those who seek an abbreviated sentence must have served 10 years in prison with good behavior, and have no violent or gang-related history. Among them was a woman who was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison for her peripheral role in her husband’s methamphetamine activities. She has been in prison since 1995; it is time for her to move on with her life.

The commutations do not clear these felons of their convictions. Rather, they bring their sentences into line with those being convicted under the 2010 guidelines. The convictions remain in place. That makes sense: Drug crimes still require adjudication and those convicted must pay for their missteps – but not in an arbitrary and unfair manner.

Obama’s move Wednesday is likely the beginning of a trend that will continue throughout the remainder of his presidency. About half of the nation’s 216,000 federal prisoners are serving time for drug crimes, and more than 6,500 prisoners have applied for commutations in the past year – at Obama and the Justice Department’s encouragement. There is clearly much room to narrow these numbers, and given the new guidelines that aim to remedy unduly harsh punishments that resulted from the 1986 mandatory minimum sentencing requirements. Obama is right to begin that work – first by calling for new rules that expand prisoners’ opportunities to request commutations, and then by issuing the requests where appropriate.

There is a growing body of research demonstrating the systemic problems inherent in the United States criminal-justice efforts, particularly with respect to race. The president’s commutation effort will, by no means, provide a wholesale fix to this enduring and endemic challenge, but it is a critical step in the process that must continue.



Reader Comments