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               Obama Commutes 46 Prison Sentences, More Expected

   by VOA News

   U.S. President Barack Obama has cut the prison sentences of 46
   non-violent offenders, as part of a push to reform the nation's
   chronically overcrowded federal prison system.

   In a White House video released Tuesday, Obama said "these men and
   women were not hardened criminals, but the overwhelming majority had
   been sentenced to at least 20 years."

   The president has now issued nearly 90 commutations during his
   presidency, with most of them targeting offenders imprisoned for drug
   crimes who met new criteria established by the Justice Department last
   year.

   The commutations leave the convictions in place, while ending the
   punishment.

   White House counsel Neil Eggleston said he expects the president to
   issue more commutations and pardons before he leaves the White House in
   2017.

   The White House says Obama will elaborate on plans to improve the
   fairness of the criminal justice system in an address to the the
   National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) on
   Tuesday.

   Administration officials have described reform efforts as a push to
   give relief to inmates jailed under harsh mandatory sentencing
   guidelines formulated in the 1980s, at the height of the crack cocaine
   epidemic.
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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/obama-commutations/2859978.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/obama-commutations/2859978.html