On the last day of 2015, The New York Times editorial board published an editorial on President Obama’s commutation and pardon rate during his seven years in office and the need for further reform.
“Mr. Obama knows this is a far deeper problem than can be solved by a few dozen grants. There are 9,000 applications for commutations that have not been acted on. The administration solicited applications like these in 2014 as part of a sweeping clemency initiative aimed at federal inmates who have served at least 10 years of a sentence that would be shorter today because the law has changed. To be eligible, prisoners must also have been convicted of a low-level, nonviolent offense, have no “significant” criminal history, and have behaved while behind bars.”