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Fact check: How many people did president biden attempt to pardon before he left office
Executive Summary
President Biden issued several high-profile clemency actions before leaving office, most notably commuting the sentences of nearly 2,500 people convicted of nonviolent drug offenses in mid-January 2025 and issuing a targeted pardon for certain former service members under a 2024 proclamation addressing former Article 125 UCMJ convictions. Public reporting also records commutations affecting 37 death-row inmates in a separate set of actions, but the precise phrasing “attempt to pardon” is ambiguous and reports vary in how they classify commutations versus pardons [1] [2] [3].
1. A last-minute clemency wave: nearly 2,500 commuted sentences — what happened and when?
On January 17, 2025, the administration announced a major clemency action commuting the sentences of nearly 2,500 people convicted of nonviolent drug crimes, framed as a correction of decades of disproportionate sentencing and specifically addressing crack/powder disparities and other sentencing enhancements [1] [4]. Advocacy groups framed the move as remedying systemic injustice, while critics argued about public safety and rush in timing; the statements and coverage around the announcement all date to January 17, 2025 and emphasize the scale and policy rationale behind the clemencies [5] [1].
2. A targeted military pardon in mid‑2024 — scope and limitations
Separately, on June 26, 2024, the President issued a proclamation granting a full, unconditional pardon to some former service members convicted under the old Article 125 of the UCMJ for consensual adult private conduct; reporting on the proclamation emphasized the legal remedy without specifying a numeric count of beneficiaries [2]. The proclamation’s language and coverage make clear it was narrowly tailored to a class of convictions, and contemporary reports note legal and administrative questions about how many service records would be changed and how agencies would implement the pardon [2].
3. Counting commutations versus pardons — why numbers diverge
News reports and legal statements treat commutations (cutting or ending a sentence) and pardons (forgiveness of conviction) differently, which complicates any single tally of “people pardoned.” The January 2025 action is described as large-scale commutations by multiple outlets and advocacy statements, while the June 2024 action is a categorical pardon for a defined class but without a published beneficiary total [1] [2]. Additionally, some reporting highlights 37 death‑row commutations as a separate clemency category, further showing that varying legal mechanisms and classifications produce divergent counts depending on what the questioner means by “attempt to pardon” [3].
4. Multiple perspectives and potential agendas in coverage
Coverage of these actions displays clear editorial and organizational perspectives: advocacy groups and civil-rights organizations presented the January 2025 commutations as corrective and overdue, emphasizing racial and sentencing inequities, while some law‑and‑order commentators raised concerns about process and public-safety implications [5] [1]. Reporting on the military pardon emphasized restorative justice for service members convicted under a law now considered unjust; opponents argued about precedent and record integrity. Recognizing these different framings helps explain why various outlets emphasize scale, legality, or moral rationale [2] [5].
5. Disputed or missing numeric details — where reporting is silent
Multiple official and media accounts supplied firm numbers for some categories — notably the “nearly 2,500” commutations and the “37” death‑row sentence commutations — but they left gaps, especially around the total number of individuals covered by the Article 125 pardon and any additional clemency actions not widely publicized [1] [3] [2]. Those gaps matter: searches that aggregate “pardons” without distinguishing legal types will produce different totals, and public agencies responsible for implementing records changes may provide counts later, meaning contemporaneous reporting can understate or leave uncertain the final tally [2].
6. Bottom line: what answer can be given today?
If the question seeks a single numeric answer for “how many people did President Biden attempt to pardon before he left office,” current reporting supports stating nearly 2,500 commutations for nonviolent drug offenses (Jan 17, 2025) plus a targeted pardon for former service members (June 26, 2024) and commutations affecting 37 death‑row inmates, but no unified authoritative total that consolidates these distinct actions into one “attempted pardons” figure is published in the cited reporting [1] [2] [3]. The variation arises from legal distinctions between pardons and commutations and from incomplete public counts for some classes of beneficiaries [4] [2].
7. What to watch next and how to interpret future updates
Follow-up reporting and agency records releases are likely to clarify beneficiary counts and distinguish pardons from commutations; check official clemency statements and Department of Justice or White House fact sheets for final administrative tallies, and expect advocacy groups to provide beneficiary lists or case examples [4] [2]. When interpreting future counts, be aware that different stakeholders will frame the numbers for policy or political aims: advocates stress corrective justice, critics stress process and public safety, so compare multiple sources and look for primary government data to resolve outstanding numeric gaps [5] [2].