Who was pardoned in Biden's clemency? Data breakdown of demographics, ages
President Joe Biden extended clemency to an unprecedented number of people Thursday, granting pardons to 39 people convicted of nonviolent crimes and commuting the sentences of another 1,499. This sweeping action marked the largest single-day clemency act in modern American history.
The people granted clemency were largely those placed under house arrest during the COVID-19 pandemic when prisons across the country relocated thousands of people to home confinement, seeking to curb the spread of the respiratory virus in overcrowded correctional facilities.
An analysis of data collected by USA TODAY from the Bureau of Prisons showed the demographic split behind the numbers. Among the 1,499 whose sentences were commuted, 1,217 were identified as male and 282 as female.
