Which individuals received presidential pardons from joe biden in 2024 and what were their convictions?
Executive summary
President Biden issued multiple clemency actions in 2024 that included blanket and individual pardons: most notably a December 12, 2024 action that pardoned 39 people convicted of nonviolent crimes and commuted the sentences of roughly 1,500 people placed on home confinement during the COVID-19 pandemic [1] [2]. Earlier in 2024 he issued categorical pardons for former service members convicted under military laws criminalizing consensual same-sex conduct and granted individual pardons and commutations for people convicted of nonviolent drug offenses — but the public lists of the 39 names in December were limited in many outlets’ reporting [1] [3] [4].
1. What happened on Dec. 12, 2024 — the scale and stated purpose
On Dec. 12, 2024, the White House announced what it called the largest single-day act of clemency in modern history: commutations for roughly 1,500 people who had been placed on home confinement during the pandemic and pardons for 39 people convicted of nonviolent offenses, many of them drug-related; the White House framed the action as restoring opportunity for people who have shown rehabilitation and community commitment [1] [3] [2].
2. Who were the 39 pardoned individuals — what the administration disclosed
The administration characterized the 39 as parents, veterans, health-care professionals, teachers, and community advocates convicted of nonviolent crimes (including drug offenses), and released brief biographies for some individual recipients (for example, Nina Simona Allen and Emily Good Nelson were mentioned by local outlets and the White House) — but comprehensive, named lists were not fully reproduced by all news reports at the time of initial coverage [1] [2] [5].
3. Earlier 2024 clemency moves that provide context
In June 2024 Biden issued a categorical, unconditional pardon for certain former military service members convicted of offenses based on sexual orientation — covering unaggravated consensual conduct between adults occurring between 1951 and 2013 — reflecting a broader pattern of targeted proclamations and group pardons during his term [1]. In April 2024 he granted individual pardons and commutations for people convicted of nonviolent drug offenses as part of an ongoing effort to address sentencing disparities [1] [6].
4. The Hunter Biden pardon and political fallout
Separate from the Dec. 12 action, Biden pardoned his son Hunter for federal gun and tax matters — a move publicly announced Dec. 1, 2024 — which generated bipartisan criticism and shaped how some outlets and commentators framed the later December clemency package [7] [8]. Reporting shows that the Hunter pardon was explicitly for offenses committed from January 1, 2014, through December 1, 2024, according to contemporaneous summaries [7] [8].
5. What lists and official records say — and limits in public reporting
The Department of Justice’s Office of the Pardon Attorney maintains a record of Biden-era pardons and commutations with dates including April 24 and December 12, 2024; those records corroborate multiple rounds of clemency in 2024 but the initial White House fact sheet and many news reports focused on totals and selected biographies rather than a single, fully detailed roster of all 39 names in their coverage [6] [9] [1].
6. Competing perspectives and scrutiny
Advocates for criminal-justice reform framed the actions as long-overdue mercy and needed corrections of sentencing disparities, particularly for nonviolent drug convictions [2] [4]. Critics — including voices across the political spectrum — argued that the Hunter Biden pardon signaled favoritism and undercut prior promises that “no one is above the law,” affecting public trust and shaping critiques of the broader clemency agenda [7] [10].
7. What reporting does not (yet) provide
Available sources do not mention a complete, consistently published roll call with every one of the 39 names and full conviction details in a single mainstream outlet at the time of initial reporting; many outlets highlighted selected recipients and gave totals rather than exhaustive line-by-line conviction records [5] [2]. For definitive names and individual conviction records, readers should consult the White House fact sheet and the Department of Justice Office of the Pardon Attorney entries tied to the Dec. 12, 2024 action [1] [6].
8. Bottom line for readers
Biden’s 2024 clemency activity combined group proclamations, commutations of nearly 1,500 pandemic-era home-confinement cases and pardons for 39 people convicted of nonviolent crimes — a mix designed to address drug-sentencing disparities and past discriminatory prosecutions — but public reporting emphasized totals and illustrative profiles rather than a single, exhaustive catalog of every individual and their conviction, leaving some granular details to official DOJ or White House documents [1] [2] [6].