In his first time exercising his powers of clemency, President Joe Biden has pardoned three people and commuted the sentences of 75 other nonviolent drug offenders.
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Insider Marc Sandalow told KCBS Radio, the irony is many of the drug offenders may have been serving sentences influenced by Biden's past legislation as a senator.
"One of the reasons that the criminal justice code has imprisoned so many drug offenders is because of Senator Joe Biden when he pushed his crime bill back during the Clinton administration," Sandalow explained.
Severe sentences for drug offenses increased across the United States after the government led War on Drugs at the height of the crack epidemic.
"People were scared, crime was on the rise and it was seen that harsher sentences were the way to go," Sandalow said.
That's when California adopted the three strikes you're out law where significantly harsher punishments were imposed on repeated offenders, even if the offenses were nonviolent.
"The times have changed and people now think this is a terrible idea, including Joe Biden, who apologized to this on the campaign trail," Sandalow said.
"Today, I am pardoning three people who have demonstrated their commitment to rehabilitation and are striving every day to give back and contribute to their communities," Biden said in a statement. "I am also commuting the sentences of 75 people who are serving long sentences for non-violent drug offenses, many of whom would have received a lower sentence if they were charged with the same offense today, thanks to the bipartisan First Step Act."
Statistics show that Black and white people use marijuana at roughly the same rates, however, Black people are four times more likely to be arrested for the drug. "This has been used in a racially unfair way," said Sandalow. "So part of what Biden is doing here is sending a message in hopes to couple this with different justice department efforts to try to change the practices."
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