Who Goes Free?

December, 2000

This past summer, President Clinton commuted the sentences of four women and a man convicted of serious drug charges. The gesture received little attention compared with his release last year of 11 members of the violent Puerto Rican group FALN.Curious, we examined each case to see what triggers presidential compassion. Two of the cases offer clear examples of the injustices of mandatory minimum sentences. Serena Nunn's major crime was driving with her cocaine-dealing boyfriend when he went to m...