
Sign up to save your podcasts
Or


On Tuesday, President Biden exercised his presidential clemency powers for the first time in his presidency, issuing 3 pardons and 75 commutations, all of whom were convicted of drug offenses or other non-violent crimes. Still, there are 18,000 petitions for clemency still pending.
We speak with Austin Sarat, professor of jurisprudence and political science at Amherst College, to explore the history of how presidents have used clemency powers in the past, why the process serves so few, and if President Biden might meet his campaign promise of criminal justice reform by using the powers of clemency going forward.
By WNYC and PRX4.3
712712 ratings
On Tuesday, President Biden exercised his presidential clemency powers for the first time in his presidency, issuing 3 pardons and 75 commutations, all of whom were convicted of drug offenses or other non-violent crimes. Still, there are 18,000 petitions for clemency still pending.
We speak with Austin Sarat, professor of jurisprudence and political science at Amherst College, to explore the history of how presidents have used clemency powers in the past, why the process serves so few, and if President Biden might meet his campaign promise of criminal justice reform by using the powers of clemency going forward.

38,518 Listeners

6,782 Listeners

25,785 Listeners

11,655 Listeners

321 Listeners

3,981 Listeners

1,572 Listeners

937 Listeners

8,441 Listeners

465 Listeners

719 Listeners

1,001 Listeners

309 Listeners

3,785 Listeners

923 Listeners

14,627 Listeners

4,671 Listeners

112,031 Listeners

326 Listeners

1,889 Listeners

7,227 Listeners

16,364 Listeners

15,852 Listeners

1,555 Listeners

1,579 Listeners