Who did Biden pardon? Whose sentences were commuted? Takeaways from the president’s record-setting day of clemency.

President Biden on Thursday announced he is commuting sentences for roughly 1,500 people who were released from prison and placed on home confinement during the pandemic; he is also pardoning 39 Americans convicted of nonviolent crimes in what the White House called the “largest single-day act of clemency in modern history.”

“America was built on the promise of possibility and second chances,” Biden said in a statement. “As president, I have the great privilege of extending mercy to people who have demonstrated remorse and rehabilitation, restoring opportunity for Americans to participate in daily life and contribute to their communities, and taking steps to remove sentencing disparities for non-violent offenders, especially those convicted of drug offenses.”

Pardons and commutations, while often announced together, are different. A commutation is the reduction of a sentence, but it does not completely exonerate the individual for the crime. A pardon is a complete forgiveness of a crime and restores full rights of U.S. citizenship that may have been limited by a conviction, such as the right to hold public office or vote.

The previous most commutations issued by a president in a single day occurred in 2017, when President Barack Obama shortened the prison sentences for 330 nonviolent drug offenders.

Of the 21 presidents who have served since 1900, Franklin D. Roosevelt issued the most pardons — 2,819 — according to the Pew Research Center.

Whose sentences were commuted?

According to the White House, the 1,499 individuals who received commutations on Thursday had already been serving their sentences at home for at least one year under the COVID-era CARES Act and “had shown their commitment to rehabilitation by securing employment and advancing their education.”

Biden said many of them would have received “lower sentences if charged under today’s laws, policies, and practices” and have “successfully reintegrated into their families and communities.”

The White House released a list of all 1,499 names, which you can see here.

Who received pardons?

The 39 people who were pardoned by Biden had been convicted of nonviolent crimes, mostly drug offenses, and have “shown commitment to making their communities stronger and safer,” the president said.

The names of all 39 were released by White House. They range in age from 36 to 79, and many are military veterans. They include:

• Brandon Sergio Castroflay, a 49-year-old U.S. Army veteran from Alexandria, Va., who was convicted of nonviolent drug-related offenses at age 21. Castroflay now “volunteers for several charitable organizations that support Gold Star families and wounded service members,” according to the White House.

• Shannan Rae Faulkner, a 56-year-old from Muldrow, Okla., who successfully served her sentence for a nonviolent drug offense and now works as a “counselor and recovery coach with female trauma victims and people with disabilities,” according to the White House.

• Gary Michael Robinson, a 70-year-old U.S. Army veteran from Redmond, Ore., who since his conviction on a nonviolent drug offense has “built a successful firefighting and habitat preservation business,” the White House said.

What is Biden’s rationale for these acts of clemency?

President Biden has now issued more commutations than any other recent president by this point in their first term, according to the White House.

Before Thursday, Biden had issued 122 commutations and 21 other pardons, mainly for people with nonviolent drug offenses. (During his first term, Donald Trump granted clemency to 237 people, including 144 on his last day in office.)

“The president is intent on granting clemency to individuals convicted of non-violent crimes who were sentenced under outdated laws, policies, and practices that left them with longer sentences than if the individuals were sentenced today,” the White House said in a statement.

And Biden was the first president to issue broad categorical pardons to people convicted of simple use or possession of marijuana on federal lands and U.S. service members convicted of a now repealed military ban on consensual gay sex.

What about Hunter Biden’s pardon?

Earlier this month, the president stirred up controversy by pardoning his son Hunter Biden after previously saying flatly he would not.

The announcement came weeks before Hunter Biden was set to be sentenced for his conviction on federal gun and tax charges.

“I believe in the justice system,” Biden said in a statement announcing Hunter’s pardon. “But as I have wrestled with this, I also believe raw politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice.”

The younger Biden was found guilty in June of three felony charges stemming from a 2018 gun purchase while he was addicted to crack cocaine. Prosecutors said that Hunter Biden lied about his addiction to crack while applying to purchase the firearm and that he illegally possessed the handgun for 11 days.

Hunter Biden has been open about his struggles with addiction and about his recovery. He was set to stand trial in California on federal tax charges but agreed to plead guilty in early September as jury selection was set to begin, saying he wanted to spare his family the pain of another trial.

What’s next?

Biden has reportedly been weighing whether to issue preemptive pardons before he leaves office to individuals who Trump has threatened to seek retribution against, including Sen. Adam Schiff, former Rep. Liz Cheney, special counsel Jack Smith and Dr. Anthony Fauci.

In his statement on Thursday, Biden said he “will take more steps in the weeks ahead” and that his administration will “continue to review clemency petitions to advance equal justice under the law, promote public safety, support rehabilitation and reentry, and provide meaningful second chances.”