Monday, May 23, 2011
President Obama Grants Eight Pardons
It is good to see that President Obama is using his pardon powers, granting eight pardons this past week. (See Press Release here) Clearly more pardons would have been better as there are many suffering from the collateral consequences of a conviction that should not have happened. Likewise, there are many that have significantly reformed their lives and are deserving of a second chance. Some observations about these pardons:
- Four of the eight included a conspiracy count.
- Three of the eight had a drug related charge.
- The largest sentence that had been given in any of these offenses was five years.
- Four had a sentence of no prison time.
- The most recent sentencing from these cases was 2001.
- Seven of the eight cases were prior to 2000.
- Only two cases were from the same state, that being Indiana.
An important question to ask is whether any of these cases should have been criminal activity in the first place. Did we really need to send someone to prison for "the possession and sale of illegal American alligator hides" in violation of the Lacey Act? Would a civil fine have been sufficient?
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https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/whitecollarcrime_blog/2011/05/president-obama-grants-eight-pardons.html
Comments
Likewise, there are many that have significantly reformed their lives and are deserving of a second chance.
Posted by: cheap mlb jerseys | May 24, 2011 2:02:54 AM
What about all the people still in prison for decades-old marijuana charges? What about the thousands still in jail on 100X crack charges?
Posted by: Penny auctions | May 29, 2011 7:30:43 PM
Obama failed to use his pardon power for longer than, what, two other presidents in the history of the United States, and now he issues eight(!) non-pardons, none of which even released anyone from prison. What about all the people still in prison for decades-old marijuana charges? What about the thousands still in jail on 100X crack charges? What about the additional thousands whose cases were tainted by questionable crime labs, potential Brady violations, ineffective counsel, judicial misconduct? These non-pardons were meaningless, toothless, cowardly and all-for-show, par for the course for our Republican president.
Posted by: James | May 24, 2011 12:02:18 AM