President Joe Biden has pardoned six individuals before the end of the year, including an 80-year-old Ohio lady convicted of murder for killing her violent husband.

On Friday, when he and his family were vacationing on St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands, the president issued pardons.

The pardons have resulted in the expungement of the criminal records of the six individuals charged with murder and drug- and alcohol-related offences.

According to the Associated Press, Biden also pardoned thousands of people convicted of “simple possession” of marijuana under federal law a few months ago.

Earlier this year, the president also granted three pardons and lowered the sentences of 75 others.

Throughout his fifty years of public service, Biden’s position on minor offences has shifted. He changed from being a tough-on-crime politician who backed laws that raised the incarceration rate for drug-related offences to become moderate.

This disproportionately harmed Black and Latino individuals since more were detained under Biden-supported legislation.

Joe Biden Pardons 80-Year-Old Woman Who Helped Psychologists Understand ‘Battered Woman Syndrome’

Beverly Ann Ibn-Tamas of Columbus, Ohio, Gary Davis of Yuma, Arizona; Edward Lincoln De Coito III of Dublin, California, Vincente Ray Flores of Winters, California, Charlie Byrnes Jackson of Swansea, South Carolina; and John Dix Nock III of St. Augustine, Florida were pardoned, as reported by ABC News.

The White House stated that the six were selected due to their “passion for bettering their communities and the lives of those around them.”

Ibn-Tamas, now 80 years old, murdered her violent, verbally abusive, and threatening husband. She murdered him at the age of 33.

Al Jazeera reports that Ibn-Tamas’ example contributed to the understanding of “battered lady syndrome,” a psychiatric pattern comparable to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It is typically connected with survivors of domestic violence.

The term “battered woman syndrome” is frequently used to describe why some survivors have resorted to violence against their abusers.

However, this frequently occurs in settings that do not satisfy the legal threshold for self-defence, resulting in incarceration for many victimized women.

On February 23, 1976, Ibn-Tamas shot and murdered her violent husband, neurosurgeon Abdur Ramad Yusef Ibn-Tamas. She did it after the doctor threatened to kick her out of the house because she was pregnant at the time.

Ibn-Tamas said she always feared for her life due to his physical and verbal assault.

She said she was hauled up the stairs and beaten with a hairbrush or rifle. After reaching her breaking point, she shot him with the same rifle.

Joe Biden’s New Pardons Show Shifting Attitudes

The other five pardoned individuals, according to the White House, received terms for drug or alcohol-related offenses while they were very young.

Gary Davis, now 66 years old, pled guilty to using a telephone for an illegal cocaine transaction when he was 22 years old in the 1970s. One of the individuals granted clemency has served in the military, while the other is still on active service.

A White House official told The Hill that the pardons reflect Joe Biden’s belief that everyone deserves a second shot.

“President Biden believes that America is a country of second chances and that providing significant opportunities for atonement and rehabilitation allows formerly jailed individuals to become productive, law-abiding members of society,” a White House official explained.

The clemency also demonstrated that the Biden administration favoured low-level drug offences when making its decision.