Biden grants clemency to 2 Upstate NY women convicted of non-violent drug crimes [Video]

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden has granted clemency to 16 people who were convicted of non-violent drug crimes, issuing pardons to 11 men and women and commuting the sentences of five other people in the latest use of his clemency power to address racial disparities in the justice system.

Biden said in a statement Wednesday that April is Second Chance Month and that many of the individuals getting clemency had received “disproportionately longer” sentences than they would have under current law.

Among the 16 were two women from Upstate New York: Stacy Lynn Wilder of Albany and Margaret Ann Vandyke of Ellenville in the Hudson Valley. Wilder was pardoned and Vandyke had her sentence commuted.

Wilder, 49, pleaded guilty to a non-violent drug offense. Had Wilder been sentenced under current law and sentencing practices today, the White House said in a news release that “she would have received a significantly lower sentence.”

Since her release, Wilder has worked as a payroll …