President Barack Obama commutes sentences of 46 drug offenders

[RonPaulIsGreat]

My dealers getting out!!! So excited, he gets the best shit ever.

 

[Todd]

Only 46? There are thousands of people who should be pardoned.

Great for the lucky 46, but I still find this lame.

Media and boobus will eat it up.


This illustrates the Illusion of Justice. Government does a little good deed and spreads the news to the four corners. And everyone thinks they are consistant.

 

[presence]

I picture either the AUSA or federal judge petitioning for pardon.

I'm also 90+% certain the weight/quantity has less to do with it than having the feds pulling for them.....

hmmm

so you might say... local kingpins that snitched?



Certainly taints the motives of the commutation. Interesting group of personalities to exonerate.

 

[Tinnuhana]

There's a difference between commutation and pardon. I think commutation means "we'll let the rest of the sentence go". Pardon is more like "we're sorry you were ever sent to jail in the first place".

 

[angelatc]

Congratulations to these folks and their families..


These 46 Men and Women Received Commutations Today From President Obama

I wondered if any of them were white.

Mashable has a good article on the backgrounds of some of them.

Katina Stuckey Smith is the mother of Demaryius Thomas, a wide receiver for the Denver Broncos and one of the prisoners who sentenced was commuted on Monday.

Talks about seeing his Mom and Grandmother selling crack out of the house:

Shauna Barry-Scott was convicted of possession of crack with intent to distribute in 2005. Her sentence will now expire on November 10, 2015.

Local news outlets reported that at one time in the mid 1990's, Barry Scott and her husband had claimed to be anti-drug activists, prior to both being arrested for crack cocaine possession.

Maybe she claimed to be black too?

More at the link: http://mashable.com/2015/07/14/people-obama-commuted/

 

[tod evans]

hmmm

so you might say... local kingpins that snitched?



Certainly taints the motives of the commutation. Interesting group of personalities to exonerate.

I do not know that, it's merely an assumption, but the list had to come from somewhere...

I don't see government petitioning the citizens for a list of folks they'd like released....

 

[tod evans]

I've posted this before but it's worth posting here too;

http://www.bop.gov/about/statistics/statistics_inmate_offenses.jsp

Chart Label Offense # of Inmates % of Inmates
a Banking and Insurance, Counterfeit, Embezzlement 669 0.3%
b Burglary, Larceny, Property Offenses 8,031 4.1%
c Continuing Criminal Enterprise 451 0.2%
d Courts or Corrections 841 0.4%
e Drug Offenses 95,265 48.7%
f Extortion, Fraud, Bribery 12,269 6.3%
g Homicide, Aggravated Assault, and Kidnapping Offenses 5,623 2.9%
h Immigration 18,279 9.3%
i Miscellaneous 1,535 0.8%
j National Security 70 0.0%
k Robbery 7,231 3.7%
l Sex Offenses 13,868 7.1%
m Weapons, Explosives, Arson

 

[enhanced_deficit]

For a change, good move by SWC. There seem to be many cases of people introduced to vicious prison cycle after initial non-violent offenses and many of them don't recover.

Then there are less talked about other factors that can turn some prisoners into preys.

Rape in the American Prison
February 25, 2015

Ben Carson: Being Gay Is A Choice Because Of Prison Sex [VIDEO]