According to the Federal U.S. Sentencing Commission (USSC), President Joe Biden’s pardons of marijuana offenders will have a significant impact on those who are eligible for relief in 2022.
The report also broke down the numbers by state. President Biden’s pardons are seen as a major step forward in reforming America’s marijuana laws. They will help to reduce the number of people who are incarcerated for nonviolent marijuana offenses and pave the way for further reform down the road.
The United States Sentencing Commission (USSC), approximately 6,577 U.S. citizens have been convicted of federal marijuana possession offenses between 1992 and 2021.
Source: USSC
The USSC report found that the majority of these convictions (over 5,000) occurred between 2009 and 2021. They also found that the average sentence for a marijuana possession conviction was 5 months, with a range from 0 days to 24 months.
According to a demographic breakdown, 41.3 percent of people found guilty of at least one marijuana-related offense under the applicable federal statute are white, 31.8 percent are Hispanic, and 23.6 percent are Black.
Source: USSC
Additionally, according to the USSC research, 415 American citizens were charged with crimes using “several restricted narcotics, at least one of which is marijuana.” In the cases of another 555 people, “the only controlled drug implicated in the offense was marijuana,” but there were additional non-simple possession offenses involved.
