President Biden has issued commutations to nearly 1,500 individuals who had already been released from prison due to the pandemic, making Thursday the largest granting of clemency since the 1970s. Mr. Biden further pardoned 39 individuals who were convicted of non-violent crimes. 

Mr. Biden had been pressed by activists in recent weeks following the pardon of his son Hunter to use the presidential clemency powers to free more people. Some progressives have demanded he commute all of those currently awaiting execution on death row, though the White House has not made any commitment on that front. 

“These actions build on the president’s record of criminal justice reform to help reunite families, strengthen communities, and reintegrate individuals back into society. The president has issued more sentence commutations at this point in his presidency than any of his recent predecessors at the same point in their first terms,” the White House said in a statement. 

The administration says all of the nearly 1,500 who were granted commutations were in home confinement or were already out on parole under a Covid-era law that released thousands of individuals from prison due to the virus. 

Mr. Biden is far ahead of recent predecessors on the issuing of pardons and commutations. In 2022, the president issued a proclamation that granted pardons to those convicted both federally and in the District of Columbia for possession or use of marijuana. 

Previously, the largest single-day use of the pardon power was by President Carter, who, on his second day in office, declared that those who evaded the Vietnam War draft would be granted relief. In total, that affected more than 200,000 individuals.