While the President will ceremoniously pardon a turkey on Thursday (to massive Republican opposition I’m sure), it is important to remember that this President has had some of the fewest pardons, commutations, or acts of clemency of any President on record. And this is coming from our first constitutional lawyer President who addressed issues of sentence disparity, prison reform, and drug war consequences during his years as a state and US Senator here in Illinois.
The Atlantic points this fact out in an insightful article and issues some recommendations.
First is the problem:
According to an analysis of Department of Justice data published by Reason.com, only three presidents made less use of the clemency power than did Obama during their first terms: George Washington, who had little cause to grant clemency in the nation’s first days; William Henry Harrison, who died of pneumonia a month after taking office; and James Garfield, who was shot four months into his presidency.
Which may be due to the race and perceived liberality of the President and the lingering lesson of our old friend Willie Horton
The issue is freighted with politics. In 1988, Republicans attacked Democratic presidential nominee Michael Dukakis for a Massachusetts furlough program that allowed convicted murderer Willie Horton to escape and commit more crimes.
But we see real injustice everyday that could be easily addressed at the executive level, including the case of Weldon Angelos
Angelos was sentenced in 2004 to 55 years’ imprisonment for possessing a firearm in connection with selling small amounts of marijuana. He didn’t brandish or use a weapon, nor did he hurt or threaten to injure anybody. And yet the father of young children and aspiring music producer was given an effective life sentence because of a draconian mandatory-minimum federal law.
