Obama shortens terms for 214 prisoners; 67 had life sentence

Obama ridiculed Trump at a White House press conference for “daily and weekly” episodes in the presidential election where Republicans had to distance themselves from their nominee, warning that the denunciations were beginning to “ring hollow”.

Pamela Smith, president of the non-partisan election monitor Verified Voting, said “the trend has been towards more paper, physical ballots” and away from unverifiable types of systems in order to ensure accountability and accuracy. Society would be better served by not locking up people for extraordinarily long sentences for nonviolent, low-level drug offenses. He remains committed to continuing to reduce the prison terms for individuals who would already be free under current guidelines. “And today, I’m commuting the sentences of an additional 214 men and women who are just as deserving of a second chance”.

And many of those backing Trump are doing so because they want a switch from the status quo, having become increasingly alienated under Obama’s Presidency.

A list released by DOJ officials showed Richard Reser, of Sedgwick, Kansas, was among those to have his sentence commuted. He’ll be released December 1.

“The individual nature of the clemency process underscores both its incredible power to change a person’s life, but also its inherent shortcoming as a tool for broader sentencing reform”, Eggleston said.

This law stood on the books for many years and helped destroy the criminal justice system until it was revised. As with Obama’s other priorities, the intensely political climate of the presidential election year has confounded efforts by Republicans and Democratic in Congress to find consensus. With Obama’s support, the Justice Department in recent years has directed prosecutors to rein in the use of harsh mandatory minimums. Almost all of them were convicted of nonviolent drug-related crimes, although some also faced firearms charges related to drug activities. More than 11,000 petitions are still pending, and Osler said at least 1,500 people are eligible for commutation under the criteria the administration established.

“Hillary Clinton has proven herself unfit to serve in any government office”, a Trump statement said, listing a number of policy concerns.

The threat of fraud “has been used to justify the rules that we’ve seen a revival of in the last several years that are actually making access more hard for certain groups of people”, Minnite said. Is it appropriate for a single president to commute more federal prisoners than the last nine combined?