Has President Joe Biden issued pardons for sexual offenders since taking office?

1. What Biden actually pardoned: a targeted military-category action

In June 2024 the White House granted a categorical, unconditional pardon to certain former military service members who were convicted under Article 125 (the military sodomy ban) for consensual, private sexual conduct between adults; the administration framed that action as erasing convictions rooted in discrimination so veterans could seek upgraded discharges and lost benefits ^{[1] [2]}. Multiple news outlets reported the move covered “several thousand” ex-service members mostly convicted before Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell eased punishment, and the White House said the pardon applied only to unaggravated, consensual conduct between adults ^{[4] [1] [2]}.

2. High-volume clemency rounds and the sex-offender claims that followed

Separately, in December 2024 Biden announced the largest single-day commutations in modern history and 39 pardons for people convicted of nonviolent crimes; later clemency rounds in January 2025 increased commutations to the thousands and expanded the total number of clemency acts ^{[2] [3] [5]}. After those moves critics on social media and some outlets alleged the administration had pardoned individuals convicted of child pornography or sexual offenses; fact‑checking and reporting show that at least the categorical military pardon explicitly excluded nonconsensual acts, and coverage of the December 12 batch described the 39 pardons as for “non-violent crimes” ^{[6] [4] [2]}.

3. What reporting confirms and what it does not

Primary government statements and mainstream reporting confirm: (a) a June 2024 categorical pardon for former service members convicted under the defunct sodomy statute, and (b) large December 2024 and January 2025 clemency packages including commutations and pardons for nonviolent offenses ^{[1] [2] [3]}. Available sources do not say Biden issued categorical pardons for people convicted of forcible sexual assault or other nonconsensual sex crimes; PBS and AP explicitly note that service members convicted of nonconsensual acts were not covered by the military pardon ^{[1] [4]}.

4. Where confusion and political attacks come from

Misinformation arose after the large December clemency announcement: social posts and some critics claimed the administration pardoned a person convicted of child pornography or labeled the move as pardoning “sex offenders.” PolitiFact and other reporting documented those viral claims and traced them to misunderstandings about which specific commutations or pardons were included and to complex prisoner‑swap contexts—reporting that some critics conflated commutations, pardons, prisoner swaps, and earlier or unrelated cases ^[6]. Independent factchecks note one commutation recipient in a separate batch had a prior conviction that included sexual abuse, but that is not equivalent to a categorical pardon by the president for sexual-offense convictions ^[7].

5. Competing perspectives and implicit agendas

The administration framed the military pardon as restorative justice for LGBTQ service members and a practical step to restore benefits ^{[2] [1]}. Critics frame mass clemency moves as politically timed or insufficiently scrutinized and seized on isolated cases to argue clemency risked releasing dangerous people; some critiques amplified accusations about sex-offender pardons without distinguishing between commutations, pardons, or exclusions for nonconsensual crimes ^{[6] [8]}. Reporters noted the June military pardon occurred during Pride Month and near fundraising events, a timing that opponents cast as politically motivated and supporters defended as overdue remediation ^[1].

6. Bottom line for the question asked

Yes—President Biden has issued pardons that relate to sexual conduct convictions, but they were targeted pardons for consensual, private conduct by former service members convicted under a now‑defunct military sodomy law and did not cover nonconsensual sexual crimes ^{[1] [4]}. Broad claims that Biden issued pardons for rapists or child‑pornography offenders are not substantiated in the cited sources; some viral posts conflated different clemency actions and cases, and fact‑checking reporting warns against those conflations ^{[6] [7]}.

Limitations: this summary relies on the provided reporting and Justice Department/White House releases; available sources do not mention every individual clemency file, so assertions about every single recipient beyond what those sources report are not possible from the current reporting ^{[2] [3]}.