President Obama commutes non-violent drug sentences in move to reduce mass incarceration

[applegrove]

President Obama commutes non-violent drug sentences in move to reduce mass incarceration

by Bethania Palma Markus at the Raw Story

http://www.rawstory.com/2015/07/president-obama-commutes-non-violent-drug-sentences-in-move-to-reduce-mass-incarceration/


"SNIP..................


In an effort to pare down the massive number of people serving long prison sentences for non-violent, drug-related offenses, President Barack Obama will free dozens of federal prisoners in the coming weeks, the New York Times reports.

While the president is expected to commute the sentences of a rough total of 80 people soon, it’s just a small fraction of the 30,000 prisoners who applied for clemency. But it’s part of a broader move to correct what many agree to be a national pattern of gross over-sentencing, thanks to years of “tough on crime” politicians who instituted mandatory minimum sentencing, according to the Times.

The United States is the world’s largest jailer, according to statistics from the American Civil Liberties Union. With just 5 percent of the world’s population, the US has 25 percent of the world’s prison population. Since 1970, the US prison population has shot up 700 percent.

The crisis has been attributed to the War on Drugs, which is now broadly seen as a failure, and mandatory minimum sentencing, according to Business Insider.




.................SNIP"

[ruffburr]

1. My question would be-

Since policy has been to confiscate property of those arrested for marijuana growing do they get compensation? A good step though.

[Ned Flanders]

13. Another, related question:

How many people were put in jail by DEA raids on dispensaries during Obama's term?

[MADem]

26. These are commutations--not pardons or vacation of sentences.

They're still guilty, that hasn't changed. They won't get any property back under this scenario.

[BrotherIvan]

2. I like it!!

Good move. It would be great if the drugs could be declassified too.

Thanks, President Obama!

[Babel_17]

3. Smart move, brave move (nt)

[MineralMan]

4. Thanks, Mr. President.

I hope this is just the beginning of a much larger group.

[Plucketeer]

16. Lets hope this 80 or so

is just the first toe in the water. Talk about saving us taxpayers money! Let some of these folks out and offer them some societal rehab to get them back amongst us responsibly. Gotta be less costly than a year of incarceration.

[tblue]

24. Exactly my thought. How can you release some but not all?

It's unconscionable. But a step in the right direction for sure.

[sheshe2]

5. K&R

This a start. Thank you Mr President.

[SusanCalvin]

6. Finally. nt

[Uncle Joe]

7. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, applegrove.

[applegrove]

8. .

[Uncle Joe]

10. .

[LuvNewcastle]

9. I'm glad to see this.

Hope he frees many more.

[ohnoyoudidnt]

11. 80 down, hundreds of thousands to go.

Including the state level. Of course, with states agreeing to quotas to fill private prisons, that could be problamatic.

[questionseverything]

30. yes really

this headline needs filed under "slightly better than nothing"

[Live and Learn]

35. +1 nt

[George II]

40. There's always a downer in the group...

...try this:

"MUCH better and many more than his predecessors COMBINED"!

[daleanime]

37. +1

[catrose]

12. Great,

but how about Don Siegelman, as long as he's trying to get the prison population down?

[JDPriestly]

15. Good point.

[Stardust]

29. I am hoping beyond hope that pardoning Don Siegelman is on Obama's bucket list.

[catrose]

44. Me too, but I'm feeling a bit forlorn about it

especially when he came into office and set about getting "justice" for that Republican from Alaska, but not Don…after 6 years.

[George II]

41. Was Siegelman's conviction for a non-violent drug offense?

[catrose]

42. No, not drugs

But nonviolent, and convicted under a law that at least 100 attorneys general have said was bogus (or at least so confusing that no one knows what it really means). If prisons are overcrowded, he'd be a good one to let go.

[George II]

45. Well then, start a thread on his crime, these commutations are for different crimes. Okay?

[JDPriestly]

14. It won't help all that many families, but it is a step in a good, forgiving

direction.

[Liberal_in_LA]

17. good!

[Takket]

18. will be interesting to see how the media portrays this

despite it being "non-violent" offenders, the media will surely strike fear into americans, claiming the Obama and setting drug addicted murders and rapists out onto the streets to attack your children because... you know... corporate RW media.

[AllyCat]

19. Small step in the right direction

[jomin41]

20. To call the WOD a failure is a coverup

because it has always been a FRAUD. From the beginning to this very day. Deliberate.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

21. Meanwhile at FOX "News": Is Obama's mass release of inmates a danger to your family?

[navarth]

22. How about Don Seigelman while you're at it, Mr. President?

That one stinks to high heaven.

[Fred Sanders]

23. What a pleasant surprise and refreshing change of pace to see President Obama back on top of the DU Greatest Threads!

Still don't get why Obama needs his own room at DU, the entire house should be a welcoming home to a twice elected Democratic President facing a fascist assault.

[applegrove]

25. I think sometimes trolls want our popular politicians relegated to rooms and off the front page of

the DU. That way when some real democratic or independent newbie comes to the DU they don't have quick access to our great Democratic politicians and all the great stuff they do. You have to dig for it.

[historylovr]

27. Excellent news!

[jwirr]

28. Very good. Do governors have the same power? They could finish the job.

[Comrade Grumpy]

33. Yes, governors generally have the same power in their states.

[kickysnana]

31. Dozens, who choses? Why not all of the non-violent drug offenders?

America really sucks as a society.

Talk show hosts, reality shows give away some huge thing to one person leaving the millions bend and doing nothing to solve the unconstitutional laws that led to the misery in this country today for millions.

[Comrade Grumpy]

32. Obama asked drug offenders to apply for commutations. 30,000 have done so.

They are in process now.

[Betty Karlson]

34. A commendable start of solving the problem

(even though it only addresses the tip of an iceberg that is a symptom, it is the first move ever made to address the issue.)

[L. Coyote]

36. Time to end Mr. Nixon's War on Political Enemies, not throw a small bone

to a few people.

How about restoring voting rights to the millions of liberals who were deprived of their rights by the discriminatory war on minorities.

[arely staircase]

38. love that man nt

[BlancheSplanchnik]

39. YAY!! Great news!

Smart and courageous

[eridani]

43. Excellent--don't forget to drop a note to the Whitehouse email box n/t

[Snobblevitch]

46. Were these 80 people users or dealers?

If they were convicted of using drugs, I have no problem with the commutations. If they were dealers, I would like to know the details of their convictions.