Biden Offers Pardon for Certain Marijuana Offenses, Grants Clemency to Non-violent Convicts

The new action follows a pardon last year of thousands of people convicted of similar offenses.

President Joe Biden speaks on his economic policies at the Wisconsin Black Chamber of Commerce in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Dec. 20, 2023. Mandel Ngan/ AFP

President Joe Biden said Friday that he will commute the sentences of nearly a dozen people who have been serving “disproportionally long” prison sentences for non-violent drug offenses.

These individuals, President Biden said, “would have been eligible to receive significantly lower sentences if they were charged with the same offense today.”