Jakarta Globe, AFP, Apr 01, 2015
Washington.
US President Barack Obama on Tuesday reduced the jail terms of 22 drug
offenders, part of a drive to address fairness in sentencing.
The
inmates, many sentenced to decades or life imprisonment for cocaine-related
offenses, will be freed on July 28.
“I am
granting your application because you have demonstrated the potential to turn
your life around,” Obama wrote in letters to the 22 individuals. “I believe in
your ability to prove the doubters wrong.”
The White
House said many of those convicted had been sent to prison using “an outdated
sentencing regime.”
“They
served years — in some cases more than a decade — longer than individuals
convicted today of the same crime,” said White House Counsel Neil Eggleston.
The White
House said it wanted to encourage non-violent offenders who have a clean prison
record and were sentenced under out-of-date laws to come forward.
Obama has
now granted 43 commutations compared to President George W. Bush’s 11.
Agence France-Presse
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