Obama commutes prison sentences of 330 federal inmates in final act as POTUS

[nolhtairt 0]

I have to wonder... what the recidivism rate is going to be for these 330?

I also wonder what the recidivism rate is for the rest he has freed/commuted in his 8 years, a total of 1,715, including 568 inmates serving LIFE sentences.

I was told that Obama has freed/commuted more inmates than the last 12 POTUSes combined.



http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/in-final-act-as-president-obama-commutes-330-drug-sentences/ar-AAm1SGa?li=BBnb7Kz

[DJL 235]

nolhtairt

I have to wonder... what the recidivism rate is going to be for these 330?

I also wonder what the recidivism rate is for the rest he has freed/commuted in his 8 years, a total of 1,715, including 568 inmates serving LIFE sentences.

I was told that Obama has freed/commuted more inmates than the last 12 POTUSes combined.



http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/in-final-act-as-president-obama-commutes-330-drug-sentences/ar-AAm1SGa?li=BBnb7Kz

This will definitely be a case study. I'm sure if even one of those commit a crime it'll be a GOP banner in 2020, 2024, etc.

"I encourage all awesome dangerous behavior." - Jeffro Fincher

[GeorgiaDon 379]

I'm pretty sure almost all of those commutations just bring sentences into line with current sentencing guidelines. We have people serving life sentences for possessing amounts of crack that would have earned just a few years for the same amount of powder cocaine. I am sure you recall that crack was favored by one socio-economic group and powder by another. Sentencing guidelines were changed a few years ago to eliminate the disparity, but the changes were not retroactive. If someone was to look at recidivism rates, it would be more relevant to compare the commuted inmates to those sentenced under present-day guidelines.

Don

_____________________________________
Tolerance is the cost we must pay for our adventure in liberty. (Dworkin, 1996)
“Education is not filling a bucket, but lighting a fire.” (Yeats)

[DJL 235]

GeorgiaDon

I'm pretty sure almost all of those commutations just bring sentences into line with current sentencing guidelines. We have people serving life sentences for possessing amounts of crack that would have earned just a few years for the same amount of powder cocaine. I am sure you recall that crack was favored by one socio-economic group and powder by another. Sentencing guidelines were changed a few years ago to eliminate the disparity, but the changes were not retroactive. If someone was to look at recidivism rates, it would be more relevant to compare the commuted inmates to those sentenced under present-day guidelines.

Don

That's accurate, most of them were life sentences for crimes committed when life was the mandatory sentencing for those crimes. Won't matter to the anti-Obama people.

"I encourage all awesome dangerous behavior." - Jeffro Fincher

[airdvr 210]

Not really. I read where they had to be model inmates, undergone all kinds of reform programs. I'm OK with it.

Just having a tail is making it awfully difficult for ex-cons to find meaningful employment. No wonder they go back to doing what they know best.

Please don't dent the planet.

Destinations by Roxanne

[jakee 1,577]

nolhtairt

I also wonder what the recidivism rate is for the rest he has freed/commuted in his 8 years, a total of 1,715, including 568 inmates serving LIFE sentences....

Did you see what those life sentences were for? Mandatory minimum sentencing laws for non-violent offences that were imposed at the height of the drug-war insanity sparked off by Nancy Reagan and continued through till 9/11 gave everyone bigger problems to worry about.

IIRC many of them were serving life sentences dished out under mandatory minimum laws that have since been abolished - so that if they were convicted of the same offense today they would only serve a couple of years at most because everyone now realises that the previous sentencing structure was utterly mental... yet there is no mechanism for retrospective reduction of the sentence for those already rotting away inside except for the presidential commutation.

So yeah, it is crazy that Obama commuted 568 life sentences - it should have been so many more.

Do you want to have an ideagasm?

[billvon 3,090]

>I have to wonder... what the recidivism rate is going to be for these 330?

I bet over 50% of them are going to go right back to smoking pot.

[normiss 873]

Not this guy though...

[ryoder 1,590]

normiss

Not this guy though...

I'm thinking they suspected he ratted out someone?

"There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones.