Shaila Dewan, After Biden Pardons His Son, Prison Inmates Hope They're Next, NYTimes, Dec. 2, 2024:
Andrea James, who runs an organization that helps incarcerated women, said she did not begrudge Hunter Biden his pardon, but said she was hopeful that it would "move President Biden to consider other families who've endured what they have gone through for much longer periods of time."
Critics have complained that Mr. Biden has approved a smaller fraction of the requests for clemency that he has received than any other modern president. Of course, he still has time, and presidents have made a habit of waiting until the 11th hour to announce their clemency decisions.
"This pardon of Hunter Biden better be the first of a huge flurry of commutations," wrote Rachel Barkow, a law professor at New York University, in a social media post. "There are so many cases even more deserving than this one that the Pardon Attorney has recommended granting, and they're just waiting for Biden's signature." [...]
The Office of the Pardon Attorney, part of the Justice Department, has received nearly 12,000 requests for clemency during Mr. Biden's term. The president has so far issued 157 clemency grants - 25 pardons and 132 commutations - according to a tally kept by the pardon attorney.
That is fewer than the 238 - 144 pardons and 94 commutations - that Mr. Trump issued during his first administration.
What about prisoners of Covid-19?
Others argue that Mr. Biden should grant blanket clemency to the thousands of people who were placed on house arrest during the Covid-19 pandemic to lower their chances of illness. They could still be returned to prison at the discretion of the Bureau of Prisons. A report by the agency found that those people had a lower rate of recidivism than similar prisoners.
There's much more at the link.
