President Obama Commutes Sentences For 46 Nonviolent Drug Offenders

President Barack Obama announced that he is commuting 46 sentences for drug offenders. The White House said that, often, the punishments for drug offenses outweigh the crime, and Obama wishes to help fix that. He took this action as part of a larger push to reform the criminal justice system.

With this addition, Obama has now commuted the sentences of 89 people. For comparison, Former President George W. Bush commuted the sentences of 11 people, while Former President Bill Clinton commuted 61 people's sentences. Obama has now commuted more sentences than any president since Lyndon B. Johnson.

Fourteen of the offenders Obama commuted had been sentenced to life for nonviolent drug offenses, he said in a video announcing the move. Many of these convictions were made during a period of harsh sentencing in the 1980s. If the men and women he is granting clemency to had been convicted today, they would have already served their time, the White House said.

Obama wrote a personal letter to each of the 46 men and women explaining his decision to grant them clemency. They all applied for a commutation, which reduces a sentence, and were approved by the president. Obama urged them to make good use of their second chance.

"I believe in your ability to prove the doubters wrong, and change your life for the better," Obama wrote.

Obama will be addressing the NAACP on Tuesday and visiting a federal prison in Oklahoma on Thursday. At both of these events, he is expected to speak about further reforms to the criminal justice system.

Now in the final push of his presidency, Obama has been speaking out more forcefully on certain issues, without much regard for political backlash. He called the legalization of same-sex marriage a victory for the country, supported Caitlyn Jenner and spoke candidly with Marc Maron on his WTF podcast. Many believe that reforming the prison system is going to be the next big issue he wants to turn his attention towards.