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Commutation

U.S. President Joe Biden sits in a white chair in a navy suit with his hands clasped in front of him.
Closing Argument November 16
Biden Has 65 Days Left in Office. Here’s What He Can Do on Criminal Justice.
Judicial appointments and the death penalty are among areas where a lame-duck administration can still leave a mark.
By
A White man is looking down with his hands on his hips, while leaning against a wall. He is dressed in a white button-up shirt with rolled-up sleeves, orange and black pants.
Closing Argument May 6, 2023
Connecticut Normalized Clemency. Not Anymore.
After commuting nearly 100 sentences in less than two years, the state is facing a backlash.
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Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort arrived to his arraignment in New York in 2019.
Analysis January 19, 2021
Trump’s Pardons Show The Process Has Always Been Broken
Donald Trump’s volatile approach to granting clemency epitomizes a system that many have long hoped to change.
By , and
Tana Hackley pats a friend on the shoulder as she leaves prison as a result of Oklahoma’s mass commutation of hundreds of people’s sentences for low-level drug and theft cases.
News November 4, 2019
How More Than 50 Women Walked Out of a Prison in Oklahoma
The state slashed sentences for more than 500 people convicted in low-level drug and theft cases.
By
Life Inside September 27, 2018
I’m on Death Row for Punching a Man
“After three decades, I now feel like I’m dying a slow death.”
By J.T. Kirksey as told to
Neil Eggleston, who served as White House counsel from April 2014 until the end of President Barack Obama's second term.
Q&A February 14, 2017
The Man Who Ran Obama's Clemency Machine
“He felt strongly that this was a gift, and the gift had to be earned.”
By
Rocks of crack cocaine.
Life Inside April 7, 2016
A Prosecutor’s Regret: How I Got Someone Life in Prison for Drugs
“At the end of my life, I’d like to know that I wasn’t responsible for Lewis Clay spending his final days in prison.”
By John Lovell, as told to
US President Barack Obama meets with formerly incarcerated individuals who have previously received commutations in Washington, DC, on March 30, 2016...From L to R, Serena Nunn, Ramona Brant, Obama, Phillip Emmert, Angie Jenkins and Kemba Smith. President Barack Obama on Wednesday commuted the sentences of 61 individuals charged mostly with cocaine-related offenses, as he again pressed the case for drug sentencing reforms.. / AFP / NICHOLAS KAMM (Photo credit should read NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images)
News March 30, 2016
Obama Commutes the Sentences of 61 Federal Prisoners
An attempt to further level out crack cocaine sentencing disparities.
By
News December 23, 2015
What Everyone Gets Wrong About Christmas Pardons
It’s not true that prisoners get released during the holidays
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News December 14, 2015
The Bureaucracy of Mercy
Why hasn’t President Obama freed more prisoners? Maybe that’s the wrong question.
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