It has been said by some that Democrats favor criminals over law-abiding citizens, and recent actions by outgoing lame-duck President Joe Biden over the past month have only lent credence to that supposition.

On Friday, Biden commuted the prison sentences of nearly 2,500 individuals who'd been convicted and imprisoned for supposedly "non-violent" drug offenses, Fox News reported.

Those grants of clemency helped Biden set modern-era records for the most pardons and commutations in a single day as well as for a single four-year term.

Mass commutations

In a statement on Friday, President Biden said, "Today, I am commuting the sentences of nearly 2,500 people convicted of non-violent drug offenses who are serving disproportionately long sentences compared to the sentences they would receive today under current law, policy, and practice."

"With this action, I have now issued more individual pardons and commutations than any president in U.S. history," he bragged.

"Today’s clemency action provides relief for individuals who received lengthy sentences based on discredited distinctions between crack and powder cocaine, as well as outdated sentencing enhancements for drug crimes," Biden continued without mentioning his prior role in making those tough sentencing enhancements for certain drug crimes a part of federal law.

"As Congress recognized through the Fair Sentencing Act and the First Step Act, it is time that we equalize these sentencing disparities," the president stated. "This action is an important step toward righting historic wrongs, correcting sentencing disparities, and providing deserving individuals the opportunity to return to their families and communities after spending far too much time behind bars."

He added, "I am proud of my record on clemency and will continue to review additional commutations and pardons."

Biden let death row inmates off the hook

It was just a few weeks ago in late December that President Biden issued arguably the most controversial grant of executive clemency ever when he commuted the death sentences for 37 individuals condemned to federal death row after being convicted of especially heinous crimes.

Those individuals won't be going free, to be sure, but instead had their pending executions changed to sentences of life without parole.

And, less than two weeks before that, Biden commuted sentences for around 1,500 inmates who'd been moved from prison to home confinement during the pandemic and issued pardons for 39 individuals ostensibly convicted of non-violent crimes, which until Friday's action was briefly the record for the most grants of clemency in a single day.

Biden's record-setting clemency

Axios reported on Friday that President Biden had set the modern-era record for the most grants of clemency in a single term with an estimated 4,200+ pardons and commutations over the past four years, most of which came within the past month or so.

That is more than double the 1,900+ grants of clemency issued by former President Barack Obama over two terms in office, and dwarfs the 238 total pardons and commutations issued by President-elect Donald Trump in his first term.

Biden's final number may well be even higher, as his Friday statement indicated that he will continue to review requests for clemency through his final day in office. According to the Justice Department's Office of the Pardon Attorney, as of last Monday, there were more than 11,000 pending applications for clemency, including more than 9,000 requests for commutations and nearly 2,000 requests for pardons.