Yesterday, Oregon Gov. Kate Brown commuted the state’s entire death row. The death penalty in Oregon, as around the country, is unjust, unfair, and racially biased. Gov. Brown joins a bipartisan group of past and current governors who have used their clemency power to address systemic injustice.

“[T]he death penalty is immoral,” Gov. Brown said in her announcement. “It is an irreversible punishment that does not allow for correction; is wasteful of taxpayer dollars; does not make communities safer; and cannot be and never has been administered fairly and equitably.”

The death penalty is a stain on American democracy and represents the worst excesses of the American legal system. Capital punishment normalizes harsh sentences, perpetuates racial disparities, and wastes enormous financial resources on a punishment that is inhumane and fails to prevent violence and harm.

Until the death penalty is abolished, clemency is a powerful gubernatorial tool to correct injustice. The commutation of a state’s entire death row is emblematic of how powerful a governor’s use of clemency can be, and follows other significant clemency actions taken this year.

In October, President Biden pardoned thousands of people with federal convictions for marijuana possession. He called on governors to follow his lead.

Just before Thanksgiving, Oregon Gov. Brown did just that. She issued pardons for more than 47,000 Oregonians with marijuana possession convictions under an outdated state law. In addition to sealing their criminal records, the governor will forgive $14 million in related fines and fees.

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President Biden and Gov. Brown are setting an example of using categorical clemency: instead of granting clemency on a case-by-case basis, they have granted clemency to a large group of people who fit certain criteria. The ACLU has long called for a categorical approach to clemency as it allows executives to address the harms of mass incarceration and the war on drugs at scale.

At the ACLU, we launched a nationwide campaign in 2020 to liberate 50,000 people from federal and state prisons by urging executives to use their existing clemency powers for justice, and to reverse the harm of the war on drugs.

Executive clemency is a foundational principle of this nation. The U.S. Constitution grants the president clemency power, and as state executives, governors have long possessed this power as well. Clemency is a routine part of the office of the president and the governor. Not only is it routine, it’s morally right and politically popular — most voters support clemency to correct injustices of the criminal legal system.

Since most of the 2.3 million people incarcerated in United States are in state prisons, clemency from governors will have the greatest impact and begin to unravel injustice in the criminal legal system.

In the case of marijuana pardons, clemency by governors should include commutations and expungements. States that legalized marijuana have already taken action to pardon or expunge marijuana convictions.

State-level pardons and expungements will begin to confront the harm of the war on drugs and begin to make amends for the lives that have been derailed or ruined by excessive sentences for marijuana and other drug convictions.

Although more than half of the states and the District of Columbia have legalized or decriminalized marijuana, police still make hundreds of thousands of arrests for marijuana possession annually, with Black people accounting for a quarter of all drug arrests (not just for marijuana).

Black people are 3.64 times more likely to be arrested than white people for marijuana offenses, even though Black and white people use marijuana at similar rates. These numbers don’t begin to quantify the true toll of these policies on individual lives, families, and communities. That toll is incalculable.

As a federal public defender, I witnessed the direct harm of marijuana prosecutions on hundreds of people and their loved ones. First, the arrest separates the person from their family, causing emotional harm. Next, bail exacts a financial toll on the family both because of the financial burden, and because of lost wages following the arrest. Lastly, the conviction creates lifelong obstacles to housing, employment, education, and more.

We must expect and demand more from our leaders, who have the power to begin to mend the damage caused by decades of misguided and harmful sentences and policies. And our leaders must use this power in a way that is inclusive, bold, and restores justice to people’s lives. This must include providing clemency regardless of citizenship status.

President Biden’s marijuana pardon applies to citizens and permanent residents. But as has been reported, thousands of our immigrant neighbors have been arrested and convicted over the years near the U.S.-Mexico border for marijuana possession under federal law. For immigrants, marijuana possession can result in deportation or family separation.

In 2016, the U.S. Sentencing Commission documented 1,967 arrests for federal marijuana possession at the border — accounting for 91.5 percent of all federal marijuana possession arrests that year. Of those arrested at the border, 94 percent were “noncitizens.” That same year, 99 percent of those arrested for marijuana possession near the border had “little or no prior criminal history,” but almost all served a federal prison sentence.

The president can and should extend marijuana pardons to immigrants and work to ensure that those who receive pardons do not continue to suffer immigration consequences. Governors can provide leadership to the president and to each other by including immigrants in their clemency orders. Everyone — including immigrants — should have a true second chance.

Clemency exists because we get things wrong as a nation — our governments adopt ruinous policies and harm the people they govern. The death penalty is always racist, arbitrary, and wrong. The death penalty has normalized harsh sentences — which drive mass incarceration and disproportionately harm communities of color, especially Black communities. Clemency is one way our elected leaders can provide a modicum of delayed justice for thousands of people they are meant to serve and send a powerful message: no person is disposable.

As Gov. Brown has shown, executive clemency means choosing mercy over retribution, and redemption over damnation.

This article was originally published by The Progressive Magazine.

When I graduated from nursing school five years ago, I worked for an agency in New York City’s foster care system. I believed I was helping families. But what I saw there was not a system working for children’s best interests, but one that was quick to separate children from their parents because they were living in poverty.

I’ve since gone to law school and now work as a human rights advocate. For the past year, as a fellow with Human Rights Watch and the ACLU, I have been investigating the system I once worked for — not just in New York, but across the country.

American Civil Liberties Union

‘If I Wasn’t Poor, I Wouldn’t Be Unfit’: The Family Separation Crisis in the US Child Welfare System

This ACLU research report produced in collaboration with Human Rights Watch, documents the child welfare’s system’s disproportionate impact on...

We found that child welfare systems punish families experiencing poverty by removing children and charging parents with “neglect.” Our analysis of nationwide child welfare data showed alarming racial and ethnic disparities. Black and Indigenous families are more likely to be investigated than white families. Single mothers of color are most frequently held responsible for neglect. Parents are often not told their rights or connected with an attorney early enough in the process.

Every year, more than three million children are subjected to a child welfare investigation. The process can be highly stressful and traumatic for families. Child welfare authorities may search the family’s home, interrogate neighbors, strip search and question children — sometimes based on anonymous or unfounded accusations.

Most referrals to the system do not involve abuse. The overwhelming majority of cases, nearly 75 percent in 2019, include allegations of state-defined neglect, which is inextricably linked to poverty. Parents struggling with limited resources, unable to pay rent or secure stable housing, or working long hours to make ends meet, are judged unfit and neglectful.

As a registered nurse in New York, I was required to report any concerns about child abuse or neglect to the state child protective services hotline, or risk losing my license and facing harsh criminal penalties. Every state has a similar requirement.

But broad and vague state definitions of abuse and neglect mean that teachers, social workers, and healthcare providers are required to report families out of an abundance of caution, even if our professional training and clinical judgment dictate otherwise.

Millions of reports are made every year, overwhelming an already burdened child welfare system. Most do not warrant an investigation.

We found a clear correlation between child welfare investigations and poverty, as counties with more families living in poverty have higher rates of investigation. Black families, however, experience a high rate of maltreatment investigations even when living in counties where the poverty rate is low.

Black children make up just 14 percent of the U.S. child population but 24 percent of child abuse or neglect reports and 21 percent of children entering the foster system. Indigenous children are also disproportionately affected. They enter the foster system at nearly double the nationwide rate.

I’ve talked to parents who only learned about a child maltreatment allegation against them when a caseworker showed up on their doorstep. Often, the caseworker assigned to reunify a family is also responsible for making the case to terminate parental rights and place a child for adoption. These roles are inherently at odds. Caseworkers tasked with documenting parents’ struggles and shortcomings to build a case against them are, at the same time, expected to somehow support family reunification.

Caseworkers have significant influence in determining whether maltreatment occurred. If a caseworker “substantiates” an allegation, parents or caregivers are listed on a state central maltreatment registry, where they often remain for years, affecting job opportunities and perpetuating the cycle of poverty.

Of course, there are devastating cases where children face serious abuse and intervention is needed. The problem, however, is that the system we have now is not designed to effectively keep children safe. Instead, the system puts parents, especially single mothers of color, in the impossible situation of having to overcome poverty in order to stop being monitored and to reunite with their children, without providing them the resources necessary to do so.

The entire system needs an overhaul. Lawmakers should address the extreme economic hardship and systemic racism at the heart of many child welfare cases. Federal, state, and local governments should invest in community resources and support that addresses families’ needs instead of punishing and surveilling them.