It is good to see that President Obama is using his pardon powers, granting eight pardons this past week. (See Press Release here) Clearly more pardons would have been better as there are many suffering from the collateral consequences of a conviction that should not have happened. Likewise, there are many that have significantly reformed their lives and are deserving of a second chance.    Some observations about these pardons:

• Four of the eight included a conspiracy count.
• Three of the eight had a drug related charge.
•  The largest sentence that had been given in any of these offenses was five years.
•  Four had a sentence of no prison time.
• The most recent sentencing from these cases was 2001.
• Seven of the eight cases were prior to 2000.
• Only two cases were from the same state, that being Indiana.

An important question to ask is whether any of these cases should have been criminal activity in the first place. Did we really need to send someone to prison for "the possession and sale of illegal American alligator hides" in violation of the Lacey Act?  Would a civil fine have been sufficient?

(esp)