US parole attorney says it’s up to Biden to order clemency in non-violent cannabis cases
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Attorney for the Department of Pardons and Pardons (DOJ) Elizabeth Oyer said it was up to President Joe Biden to initiate a clemency trial for people convicted of nonviolent cannabis convictions at the federal level, Marijuana Moment reported.
Speaking at an event hosted by the Justice Roundtable, a coalition of criminal justice reform organizations, Oyer said the DOJ’s Paroles Office analyzes requests for relief on an individual basis and then makes recommendations to the president.
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“If the President takes action, a categorical pardon for individuals with a state cannabis background is still possible,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said last April.
Oyer explained that the Paroles Attorney’s Office is currently reviewing each individual clemency request, which could change at the direction of the President. “Currently, we mostly look at cases individually and not categorically.”
In April 2022, Biden granted clemency to those with federal nonviolent substance abuse convictions and commuted the sentences of 75 people serving time at home because of the pandemic.
Racial Justice and Harm Reduction
The parole attorney also said her office makes clemency recommendations by considering broad categories of political goals, criminal justice reform goals, or racial justice goals.
“So we absolutely consider those categories and those political goals and those racial equality goals, but we don’t look at cases in a batch without individual review,” Oyer said. “We look at each individual case individually.”
During the event, Oyer advised attorneys to file clemency petitions and she addressed the backlog of cases under review.
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Meanwhile, White House drug czar Dr. Rahul Gupta recently reported that the Biden administration prioritized harm reduction in response to substance abuse while reviewing information on cannabis legalization and safe injection sites.
“For the first time in history, the federal government is taking on specific harm reduction policies,” Gupta said.
This article originally appeared on Benzinga and has been republished with permission.
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