Dream.Org Urges President Trump to Take Federal Criminal Justice Reform Action for All Defendants in the System
Media Contact:
Rachael Payton, Director of Communications
rachael.payton@dream.org
WASHINGTON, D.C., January 21, 2025 – Last night, President Donald J. Trump fully pardoned or commuted over 1,500 people who had been charged or convicted in the January 6th Capitol riot. Many of those individuals claimed that they were not provided with fair treatment or safe detention by the Department of Justice, an issue that has been raised by minority communities and advocates for decades.
As an organization that centers the leadership of directly impacted people, Dream.Org broadly supports clemency to provide individuals with a second chance, and knows the relief of people being reunited with their families after prison. We also believe that President Trump should immediately
- Address our aggressive federal prosecution system,
- Confront the poor conditions in federal jails and prisons,
- Overhaul the Department of Justice commutation process, and
- Ensure the release of the thousands of people who qualify for release under the 2018 First Step Act but remain incarcerated.
President Trump needs to take these actions to ensure that everyone who comes into contact with the federal criminal justice system gets equal access to justice. In response to last night’s executive order, Dream.Org Chief Advocacy Officer Janos Marton issued the following statement:
“The issues raised by the January 6th defendants, including decrepit jail conditions and overly aggressive prosecutions, are rampant in the American criminal justice system, including the federal system. There is a lot this administration can do to change that. When Steve Bannon was released from his incarceration, he suggested that President Trump needed to address implementation of the First Step Act. Fox host Sean Hannity has suggested that Alice Marie Johnson, pardoned by President Trump in 2020, could help identify more people for such consideration. Finally, on a day when thousands of clemency petitions that had languished for years, under multiple presidents, including the Biden administration, were summarily denied without explanation, President Trump can overhaul the DOJ’s dysfunctional clemency petition process. In the months ahead, President Trump has the opportunity to send a signal to the entire country that he wants a fair system of justice for all Americans.”
Everyone deserves a fair judicial process and equal treatment under the law. Americans of all backgrounds have increasingly lost faith in the criminal justice system. The above reforms—in addition to passing other bipartisan legislation that has languished in Congress—will make communities safer, administer justice more fairly, and help to increase faith in American institutions and government.
Lastly, for any of the 1,500 people who received commutations under this executive order, we invite you to join Dream.Org in advocating for those still behind prison walls and the families that wait for them to come home.
ABOUT DREAM.ORG
At Dream.Org, we dream of a world beyond mass incarceration. We build communities with fewer prisons, safer neighborhoods, and transformed lives. We bring people together across racial, social, and partisan lines to create a future with freedom, dignity and opportunity for all.
