Counting presidential pardons is usually a straightforward math problem. You look at the Department of Justice logs, add up the names, and you're done. But with the 46th president, the math gets messy. If you're looking for a quick number on how many people did biden pardon total, the answer depends entirely on whether you’re talking about individual names on paper or "proclamations" that covered thousands of people at once.
Most official reports from early 2025—right as his term wrapped up—put the tally of individual clemency acts at 4,245. That sounds like a lot. Honestly, it is. It actually breaks a record for the most acts of clemency since the 1900s, even beating out FDR. But wait. There’s a catch.
The Big Split: Pardons vs. Commutations
You’ve gotta understand the difference between a pardon and a commutation to see what Biden actually did. A pardon basically wipes the slate clean, like the crime never happened. A commutation just shortens the prison sentence.
Biden was actually pretty stingy with traditional, one-by-one pardons. He only issued 80 of those. That’s one of the lowest numbers in modern history. For context, George H.W. Bush did 74, so Biden is basically tied for the bottom of the list there.
But commutations? That’s where he went wild. He issued 4,165 commutations.
He basically used his pen to open prison doors for people serving "zombie sentences"—those decades-long terms for non-violent drug offenses that most people today agree were way too harsh. He didn't necessarily forgive the crime, but he said, "You've served enough time."
The Thousands Nobody Counts (The Marijuana Factor)
If you only look at that 4,245 number, you're missing the biggest part of the story. In October 2022 and again in December 2023, Biden issued "categorical pardons." These were blanket statements for anyone convicted of simple marijuana possession under federal law.
- The 6,500 Group: This was the first wave of federal marijuana pardons.
- The Military Proclamation: In June 2024, he pardoned former service members convicted under old military bans on consensual gay sex.
- The "Paperwork" Gap: These people aren't usually in the DOJ's individual list because they didn't have to apply. They were just... pardoned.
If you add the roughly 6,500 marijuana pardons to the 4,245 individual acts, the total jumps over 10,000. That’s a massive footprint. It’s the kind of thing that makes historians argue about how to rank him.
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That Wild Final Week in January 2025
Presidents always do a "sprint" at the end. Biden took that to a whole new level. On January 17, 2025—just days before leaving the White House—he granted 2,490 commutations in a single day.
One day. More than most presidents do in four years.
Most of these were for people convicted of crack cocaine offenses. There’s been this long-standing, 18-to-1 sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine that everyone says is unfair, but nobody fixed. Biden basically used his clemency power to "fix" it manually for a couple thousand people.
He also cleared out federal death row. Well, almost. He commuted the sentences of 37 out of 40 federal death row inmates to life without parole. He left the "worst of the worst"—mostly terrorists and mass murderers—on the list, but for everyone else, he effectively ended the federal death penalty during his tenure.
The Famous (and Infamous) Names
We can't talk about how many people did biden pardon total without mentioning the names that made people angry. Or happy. Depending on your're political leaning.
Hunter Biden is the obvious one. He got a full, unconditional pardon for both his tax charges and the gun case. Then there were the "preemptive" pardons. He gave these to people like Dr. Anthony Fauci and General Mark Milley. They hadn't even been charged with crimes, but the pardons were meant to protect them from potential "political" prosecutions in the future.
He also reached way back into history to pardon Marcus Garvey, the Black nationalist leader convicted of mail fraud back in 1923. That one was mostly symbolic, but it meant a lot to civil rights advocates.
Why These Numbers Matter for Your Record
If you or someone you know is looking for their name on a list, you have to check the DOJ's Office of the Pardon Attorney. Just because Biden issued a "mass pardon" for marijuana doesn't mean your record automatically disappears. You usually have to apply for a certificate to prove you were part of that group.
What to do next:
- Check the DOJ Database: If you think you were part of a mass pardon, search the Justice Department's clemency logs.
- Request a Certificate: For the marijuana pardons, you actually have to submit a form to get a physical certificate of pardon. This is vital for job applications or housing.
- Consult a Lawyer: Pardons are federal. They don't touch state crimes. If you were busted for weed by a state trooper, Biden's pen didn't help you. You'll need to look into your specific state’s expungement laws.
The "total" is a moving target. If you count the people affected by his broad proclamations, Joe Biden was easily the most "forgiving" president in terms of sheer volume in over a century. If you only count the individual, vetted applications, he was a president who focused almost entirely on shortening sentences rather than wiping records clean.
Either way, the impact on the federal prison population was huge. Thousands of people who were supposed to be behind bars in 2026 are home right now because of those final weeks in office.