Obama finally finds his clemency pen.

• Author: Sullum, Jacob
• Position: INFOGRAPHIC - Brief article

AFTER SHORTENING JUST one prison sentence in his first term and just 21 in his first six years, President Barack Obama seemed intent on making up for lost time. He ultimately granted 1,715 commutations, more than any other president in U.S. history and more than his 13 most recent predecessors combined. Almost all of the recipients were drug offenders, 568 of whom were serving life terms.

Obama's commutation total was less impressive as a share of federal prisoners (less than 1 percent) or as a share of the petitions he received (5.2 percent, which made him much more merciful than his four most recent predecessors, significantly more merciful than Jimmy Carter or Gerald Ford, and somewhat less merciful than Richard Nixon).

Although Obama received a lot more petitions...