Obama administration implemented several police and prison reforms

A Pew Research Center analysis found that Obama granted clemency to more people convicted of federal crimes than any president in 64 years.

 

As reported by USA Today

Facebook post shared earlier this month lays out several claims about police and prison reforms during President Barack Obama’s eight years in office.

It starts by asking: “Who’s old enough to remember when we had: a Black president, a Black AG (2 of them!), a Democrat-controlled House and Senate, a VP who claims he’s always worked for the Black community.”

And then it claims that despite the situation, “they passed NO prison reform, NO police reform, or any other reforms for that matter!”

The meme was originally shared Sept. 1 by the page Black Knowledge, which has more than 800,000 followers. The page didn’t respond to a Facebook message seeking information about the meme.

Let’s look back at the Obama administration’s policing and prison-related efforts. Obama was in office from 2009-2017. 

Obama and Biden introduced reforms 

After the fatal shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and the choking death of Eric Garner on Staten Island in New York City, both in 2014, Obama established the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing. The task force in 2015 urged that police killings be investigated by independent prosecutors. 

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