LAC Praises Biden’s Commuting of Sentences for 2,500 Individuals with Non-Violent Drug Convictions

President Biden's historic decision to commute the sentences of nearly 2,500 individuals convicted of non-violent drug offenses is a landmark step toward greater justice, healing, and equity. Addressing the longstanding disparities in sentencing, particularly the unjust distinction between crack and powder cocaine, is essential to righting the wrongs of a past era that saw people receive excessively harsh sentences for offenses that would be treated far more leniently under today's laws.

Likewise, this action is a strong endorsement of bipartisan reform efforts, including the Fair Sentencing Act and the First Step Act, both of which have been pivotal in starting to meaningfully address the disparate, devastating, and persistent impacts of draconian 'War on Drugs' era policies enacted decades ago. Recent LAC-commissioned polling found that three-quarters (75%) of Americans agree we need to treat substance use disorder more as a health problem and less as a criminal problem, including 64% of Republicans, 86% of Democrats, and 72% of Independents, confirming wide public support across party lines for such reforms and underscoring the collective desire for prioritizing care over criminalization for individuals struggling with substance use.

All of us at LAC applaud President Biden's clemency efforts. We urge the incoming administration to continue a more humane approach to substance use-related issues that promotes health and rehabilitation over punishment, acknowledges the immense and ongoing harm caused by racially biased and severe punitive policies of the past, and offers true justice to the thousands of individuals, families, and communities who have been impacted.

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Media Contact:

Arianne Keegan
Director of Communications, Legal Action Center
communications@lac.org
(212) 243-1313

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