Joe Biden has commuted the sentences of thousands of drug criminals in the wake of his son’s public addiction battles.
The US president announced on Friday he would reduce the “disproportionately long sentences” of nearly 2,500 inmates convicted of crack cocaine offences, who are predominantly African American, and other drug crimes.
Historically, crack cocaine has been treated more seriously than crimes involving powder cocaine, where those convicted are generally white.
This is partially the result of legislation pushed by Mr Biden in the 1980s, which critics say fuelled the mass incarceration of black individuals.
It comes a month after the president pardoned his son, Hunter, who had been facing a possible prison sentence for buying a gun while being addicted to crack cocaine.
The outgoing president said on Friday: “Today’s clemency action provides relief for individuals who received lengthy sentences based on discredited distinctions between crack and powder cocaine, as well as outdated sentencing enhancements for drug crimes.
“This action is an important step toward righting historic wrongs, correcting sentencing disparities, and providing deserving individuals the opportunity to return to their families and communities after spending far too much time behind bars.”
Sentencing disparities
In 1986, Mr Biden, as a Delaware senator, crafted legislation requiring a five-year mandatory minimum sentence for trafficking in 500 grams of powder cocaine or five grams of crack, known as the “100-1” rule.
Within a few years, the disparity in average federal drug sentences had increased from being 11 per cent higher for black defendants to 49 per cent, according to The Hill.
Legislation such as the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 has since reduced statutory penalties for crack cocaine offences.
In 2022, Merrick Garland, Mr Biden’s attorney general, released guidelines for prosecutors to end the sentencing disparity, which he said had driven “unwarranted racial disparities in our criminal justice system”.
Mr Biden faced fury last month when he issued a blanket pardon for his son days before he was due to be sentenced, with Democrats accusing him of putting “party before country”.
Previously, the president repeatedly said he would not use his power to pardon him – but then changed his mind over the Thanksgiving weekend.
In June, Hunter Biden was convicted of lying about his crack cocaine addiction to buy a handgun in 2018.
The charges carried a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison and $750,000 in fines, although a custodial sentence was considered to be unlikely for him as a first-time offender.