NO LAME DUCK

Obama Issues 42 Sentence Commutations

20 were serving life sentences.

President Obama is set to commute the sentences of 42 federal prisoners, the White House announced Friday. Of those prisoners, 20 were serving life sentences. According to The Huffington Post, “nearly all had been sentenced for drug offenses, with the vast majority convicted for the distribution of crack cocaine.” The move brings President Obama’s total commutations to 348, which is more than those of the past seven presidents combined. The Obama administration has made it a point to commute the sentences of nonviolent drug offenders—a criminal-justice reform issue on which they’ve found themselves aligned with the likes of the conservative billionaire Koch brothers.