NAACP president and CEO Derrick Johnson said Monday on CNN’s “The Lead” that President Joe Biden’s pardoning of 37 of the 40 men on federal death row to life without parole was a “bold step” and they “encourage” more.
Johnson said, “We commend President Biden and the administration for taking this bold step. This was absolutely necessary. You know, the data doesn’t lie here, that for every eight person that is executed, there is one person on death row that’s exonerated because they never committed the crime. We should not be playing a game of chance with individual lives.”
The NAACP chief continued, “More importantly, the extraordinary power of the clemency and pardon power of the president is something that we urge him to continue to use. We have sentencing disparities. We have the crack powder cocaine disparity. We have marijuana charges that’s no longer a crime now. The clemency power for federal convictions should be used before he leaves office. Then you have some amazing individuals who are contributing to society and could do even more if they receive the pardon.”
Johnson added, “We commend the president on this bold step, and we encourage him to do more.”
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