President Obama Shortens Sentences For 214 People

President Obama shortened the sentences of 214 people Wednesday, the most commutations in a single day since at least 1900.

Nearly all were serving sentences for nonviolent drug crimes, and 67 people were serving life sentences. Many of the 214 people will be set free at the end of the year, while others will remain locked up another year or two. Some of them will have to enroll in mandatory drug programs once released.

The president has been pushing hard for shorter sentences for nonviolent criminals.

“This is a good day — not just for the 214 individuals who are getting a hard-earned second chance, but for the people at the White House and the Department of Justice and at advocacy organizations across the country who work every day to remedy injustices in our sentencing laws,” White House counsel Neil Eggleston told BuzzFeed, which first reported the news.

“We’re going to keep our foot on the gas pedal when it comes to reviewing applications for clemency, but we are also going to need leaders in both parties in Congress to pass long overdue reforms to our criminal justice system to achieve lasting change on the scale that is needed.”

Obama has now commuted 562 sentences during his presidency, which the White House says is more than the last eight presidents combined. In May, Obama lessened sentences for 56 people.

While leading the way on shorter sentences, the president has been reluctant to issue full pardons compared to his predecessors. His 70 since he took office is the lowest of any president since James Garfield, who died six months into his term, according to Yahoo News.

A pardon essentially wipes clean the slate of a convicted criminal. A commutation only lessens the punishment.

Since the so-called "War on Drugs" began in the 1980s, the number of people in jail for drug offenses increased from 41,000 in 1980 to nearly half a million in 2014, according to The Sentencing Project, and one in nine people are serving life sentences. Advocates for reducing prison populations say that sentences of nonviolent offenses should be capped at 20 years.

Image via the White House