Doug Berman’s Federal Sentencing Reporter, together with Vera Institute engaged in an in-depth review of President Obama’s Clemency Initiative.
CAN-DO Founder Amy Povah was asked to write about the “women” who received clemency from President Obama, or lack thereof. Sadly, Amy’s article is entitled: Clemency Initiative Favored Male Repeat Offenders Over Women with No Prior Convictions due to our investigative efforts that is still a work in progress. We have counted over 150 male clemency recipients serving time for drug charges who were also charged with, “felon in possession of a firearm.” (see the list here)
Only 105 women received clemency in total. We know many female first offenders with impeccable conduct while in prison and who were minor participants in drug conspiracy cases, yet were denied clemency.
To sum up Obama’s Clemency Initiative, Amy likened it to a passage from Charles Dicken’s A Tale of Two Cities:
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was
the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it
was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it
was the winter of despair . . .”
Read the entire article: Clemency Initiative Favored Male Repeat Offenders Over Women with No Prior Convictions