Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Prior to last week, President Barack Obama had granted only 21 commutations

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Prior to last week, President Barack Obama had granted only 21 commutations and 64 pardons for federal crimes, making him the “least merciful” of modern presidents when it comes to such petitions. He has considered and denied 782 clemency petitions to date.

But last week, Obama doubled his clemency total by granting the petitions of 22 nonviolent drug offenders. Last year, the Justice Department received 6,500 clemency applications, which is nearly three times the number from previous years.

Still, clemency is a long shot with the Obama administration even though the president, Attorney General Eric Holder and many in Congress acknowledge that mandatory minimum drug sentences have been unjustly applied historically and have disproportionately impacted minority communities.

So many of the inmates in federal prison today are serving time, some even decades, for drug-related crimes that would generate far shorter sentences if committed today. The disparities in punishment for crimes committed years apart is an injustice that cries out for legislative remedy. Half of the 209,000 inmates in federal prison are serving more than a decade for drug offenses.

In the meantime, Obama has the constitutional authority to grant commutations.