老澳门开奖结果

Borrowed from the British monarchy and codified in the United States Constitution after lively debate at the Philadelphia Convention, the power of pardon and commutation was bestowed upon American presidents because of the recognition that injustices can and do occur in our criminal justice system.

An example of those injustices is the unfair and racially biased 18-to-one crack-cocaine sentencing disparity, which was reduced last year from 100-to-one after Congress passed the Fair Sentencing Act. The disparity has contributed to hundreds of thousands of non-violent drug offenders, a disproportionate number of whom, like Hamedah Hasan, are people of color, serving indefensibly long sentences behind bars.

As Laura W. Murphy, director of the 老澳门开奖结果 Washington Legislative Office, , 鈥淧residents should surely exercise the power of commutation more often than they currently do.鈥� But more important than presidents increasing their use of commutation, Murphy writes, is their willingness to 鈥渁ddress the deep systemic problems in our criminal justice system.鈥�

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