U.S. President Joe Biden issued the first three pardons of his term in office and shortened the sentences of 75 people who had been charged for non-violent drug offenses. The move comes as part of his administration’s attempt to overhaul the criminal justice system and was followed up by the Justice and Labor Department’s announcements of rolling out a $145 million plan to provide job skills training to people who had previously been incarcerated, and the Small Business Administration’s plans to make it easier for people who had been through the criminal justice system to apply for loans.
The current president seems to be picking up the reins where his former running mate and ex-president, Barack Obama, left off. Obama gave the most commutations ever while in office, reducing the sentences of 1,715 people over his tenure, which were also mostly for non-violent drug-related offenses.
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Presidents with the most pardons
As the longest serving president, Franklin D. Roosevelt gave more pardons and commutations than any other to date, with a total of 2,819 people. Many of these were for people convicted of violating prohibition. Harry S. Truman also forgave a lot of people. According to USA News, many of those to be pardoned had been convicted of violating the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940, which implemented the military draft in the run up to America’s entry into World War II.
It’s worth noting that Biden’s figures will likely rise further yet, as it has become commonplace that presidents grant executive clemency actions in the last days in office, or the ‘11th hour’, as they try to push through their promises before the next head of state is sworn in.
Here are the number of executive clemency actions granted by U.S. presidents since 1933.
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15. George H.W. Bush
- Number of executive clemency actions granted: 77
Image Credit: National Archives and Records Administration.
14. Joe Biden
- Number of executive clemency actions granted: 78
Image Credit: Gage Skidmore.
13. George W. Bush
- Number of executive clemency actions granted: 200
Image Credit: DepositPhotos.com.
12. Donald Trump
- Number of executive clemency actions granted: 237
Image Credit: 1000Words.
11. Ronald Reagan
- Number of executive clemency actions granted: 406
Image Credit: Public Domain.
10. Gerald Ford
- Number of executive clemency actions granted: 409
Image Credit: Library of Congress.
9. Bill Clinton
- Number of executive clemency actions granted: 459
Image Credit: DepositPhotos.com.
8. Jimmy Carter
- Number of executive clemency actions granted: 566
Image Credit: DepositPhotos.com.
7. John F. Kennedy
- Number of executive clemency actions granted: 575
Related: Majority of Americans think Biden is a ‘weak’ leader
Image Credit: Public domain.
6. Richard Nixon
- Number of executive clemency actions granted: 926
Image Credit: Department of Defense. Department of the Army. Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations. U.S. Army Audiovisual Center / WikiMediaCommons.
5. Dwight D. Eisenhower
- Number of executive clemency actions granted: 1,158
Image Credit: Library of Congress.
4. Lyndon B. Johnson
- Number of executive clemency actions granted: 1,187
Image Credit: Arnold Newman, White House Press Office/Wikimedia Commons.
3. Barack Obama
- Number of executive clemency actions granted: 1,927
Related: Americans don’t think Biden is handling the Ukraine war well
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2. Harry S. Truman
- Number of executive clemency actions granted: 2,044
Image Credit: National Archives and Records Administration. Office of Presidential Libraries. Harry S. Truman Library. / WikiMedia Commons.
1. Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Number of executive clemency actions granted: 3,796
Image Credit: Library of Congress.
Methodology
Data was taken from the U.S. Department of Justice and the White House. Note that Biden is serving his first term in office. His pardon count was last updated on April 26, 2022.
This article originally appeared on Statista.com and was syndicated by MediaFeed.org.
Image Credit: Deposit Photos.
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