President Obama Commutes Sentences of People Serving Life Without Parole
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: 212-549-2666, media@aclu.org
WASHINGTON – President Obama today commuted the sentences of at least four people who were serving life without parole for nonviolent offenses. Prior to today’s announcement, Obama had only pardoned 39 people and commuted only one sentence, which is the fewest by any president in recent history.
Below is a statement from Vanita Gupta, deputy legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union:
“President Obama today gave several Americans who were unnecessarily sentenced to die behind bars the chance to reunite with their families. This is one important step toward undoing the damage that extreme sentencing has done to so many in our criminal justice system. We hope the President will continue to exercise his clemency powers and lend his support to systemic reform that will make our criminal justice system smarter, fairer, and more humane.”
Clarence Aaron, Stephanie George, Jason Hernandez, and Reynolds Wintersmith, Jr., who all received commutations today, were profiled in the ACLU’s recent report on people serving life without parole for nonviolent offenses.
The report is available here:
aclu.org/living-death-sentenced-die-behind-bars-what
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