Public reporting indicates that Joe Biden granted clemency to more than 8,000 people during his presidency, including both pardons and commutations.

Overall clemency numbers

News and justice-department–based tallies report that Biden issued over 8,000 clemency actions in total, a figure that includes individual pardons, commutations, and a large collective marijuana-possession action covering about 6,500 people. This makes him the president with the highest total number of clemencies in U.S. history.

People specifically pardoned

Reports distinguish between pardons and commutations within that total. Public articles do not all break out a single definitive lifetime “pardon-only” count, but they do note:

• A mass marijuana-possession pardon and related actions covering roughly 6,500 people as part of the more than 8,000 clemencies.

• Additional specific rounds of pardons, such as 39 individual pardons in December 2024.

Because different reports group collective marijuana pardons and individual pardons slightly differently, the exact standalone “pardon-only” figure varies by source, but all agree that the total number of people Biden pardoned or otherwise granted clemency exceeds 8,000.