Pardon
Encyclopedia
Clemency means the forgiveness
of a crime
or the cancellation (in whole or in part) of the penalty associated with it. It is a general concept that encompasses several related procedures: pardoning, commutation, remission and reprieves. A pardon is the forgiveness of a crime and the cancellation of the relevant penalty; it is usually granted by a head of state
(such as a monarch
or president
) or by a competent church authority. Commutation or remission is the lessening of a penalty without forgiveness for the crime; the beneficiary is still considered guilty of the offense. A reprieve is the temporary postponement of punishment.
Today, pardons are granted in many countries when individuals have demonstrated that they have fulfilled their debt to society, or are otherwise considered to be deserving. Pardons are sometimes offered to persons who claim they have been wrongfully convicted. Some believe accepting such a pardon implicitly constitutes an admission of guilt, so in some cases the offer is refused. (Cases of wrongful conviction are nowadays more often dealt with by appeal
than by pardon). Clemency plays a very important role when capital punishment
is applied.
responsible for making pardon decisions under the Criminal Records Act
(CRA). Under the CRA, the PBC can issue, grant, deny and revoke pardons.
A pardon keeps a judicial record of a conviction
separate and apart from other
criminal records
, and gives law abiding citizens an opportunity to reintegrate into Canadian society.
The CRA removes all information about the conviction for which an individual
received the pardon from the Canadian Police Information Centre
(CPIC). Federal
agencies cannot give out information about the conviction without approval from the
Minister of Public Safety Canada.
A pardon does not, however, erase the fact that an individual was convicted of a crime. The criminal record is not erased, but it is kept separate and apart from other (non-pardoned)
criminal records.
A pardon removes disqualifications caused by a criminal conviction, such as the ability to contract with the federal government, or eligibility for Canadian citizenship.
If an individual in receipt of a pardon is convicted of a new offence, the information may lead to a reactivation of the criminal record for which the pardon was received in CPIC.
A pardon does not guarantee entry or visa
privileges to another country. Before travelling to another country, individuals must still contact the authorities of the country in question to find out what the requirements are to enter that country.
Processing of pardons by the National Parole Board generally takes on average 60 days for a summary offence
and 180 days for an indictable offence
.
Individuals can apply for a Pardon if they were convicted as an adult of a criminal offence in Canada, or of an offence under a federal act or regulation
of Canada, or if they were convicted of a crime in another country and were transferred to Canada under the Transfer of Offenders Act or International Transfer of Offenders Act. Non-Canadian citizens are not eligible for a Canadian pardon unless they were convicted of a crime in Canada.
To be eligible for a pardon, individuals must have completed all of their sentences and
a waiting period
.
Individuals are considered to have completed all of their sentences if they have:
Following completion of all of their sentences, individuals must also complete a waiting period, as follows:
Individuals can apply for a pardon by filling out the application forms available from the Parole Board and by paying a $150 pardon application fee. Be sure to send all required documents or the application can be delayed. The NPB has a toll-free pardons helpline at 1-800-874-2652 and a website.http://www.pardons.gc.ca.
from the sentence (for a medical condition) or a relief
from a prohibition (e.g., to allow someone to drive that has been prohibited from driving).
(article 93, Nº 4º), which deals with the extinction of criminal liability. “Pardon only grants the remission or the commutation of the sentence; it does not remove the condition of having been condemned […]”. The pardon may be either general, when it is granted to all those covered by a specific law passed by qualified quorum in National Congress
, or particular, when it is granted by Supreme Decree of the President of the Republic
. In Chile's presidential regime, the President is the Head of State
; in this capacity, he has the discretionary power to grant particular pardons. He is not obliged to seek opinion or approval from other authorities, although, the granting of pardons is limited by the norms of Law No. 18.050 (1981) and its Regulations (Decree No. 1542 of 1981 on particular pardons), which forbid particular pardons for those convicted of a crime of terrorism.
The convicted person sends a request for pardon to the President of the Republic. The prosecutor
of the court that pronounced the verdict reports on the case, and the case goes to the Ministry of Justice's directorate of criminal affairs and pardons for further consideration.
If granted, the decree
of pardon is signed by the President, the Prime Minister
, the Minister of Justice and possibly other ministers involved in the consideration of the case. It is not published in the Journal Officiel
.
The decree may spare the applicant from serving the balance of his or her sentence, or commute the sentence to a lesser one. It does not suppress the right for the victim of the crime to obtain compensation for the damages
it suffered, and does not erase the condemnation from the criminal record
.
When the death penalty was in force in France, all capital sentences resulted in a presidential review for a possible clemency. Executions were carried out if and only if the President reject clemency, by signing a document on which it was written : "decides to let justice take its course".
The Parliament of France
, on occasions, grants amnesty
. This is a different concept and procedure from that described above, although the phrase "presidential amnesty" (amnistie présidentielle) is sometimes pejoratively applied to some acts of parliament traditionally voted upon after a presidential election, granting amnesty for minor crimes.
is divided between the federal and the state level. Federal jurisdiction in matters of criminal law is mostly restricted to appeals against decisions of state courts. Only "political" crimes like treason or terrorism are tried on behalf of the federal government by the highest state courts. Accordingly, the category of persons eligible for a federal pardon is rather narrow. The right to grant a federal pardon lies in the office of the President of Germany
, but he or she can transfer this power to other persons, such as the chancellor or the minister of justice. In early 2007 there was a widespread public discussion about the granting of pardons in Germany after convicted Red Army Faction
terrorist Christian Klar
, serving a six times life imprisonment sentence since 1982 and not eligible for parole until at least 2009, filed a petition for pardon. President Horst Köhler
ultimately denied his request.
For all other (and therefore the vast majority of) convicts, pardons are in the jurisdiction of the states. In some states it is granted by the respective cabinet, but in most states the state constitution vests the authority in the state prime minister. As on the federal level, the authority may be transferred.
Amnesty
can be granted only by federal law.
grants the power of pardon to the President of the Republic (Art. 47, § 1). He/She can pardon, commute or remit punishment imposed by any court, on the proposal of the Minister of Justice and after receiving the opinion (not the consent necessarily) of the Pardon Committee.
in 1997, the power of pardon was a royal prerogative
of mercy of the monarch of the United Kingdom
. This was used and cited the most often in cases of inmates who had been given the death penalty: from 1965 to 1993 (when the death penalty was formally abolished) those who were sentenced to death were automatically commuted to life imprisonment under the Royal Prerogative.
Since the handover, the Chief Executive of Hong Kong
now exercises the power to grant pardons and commute penalties under section 12 of article 48 Basic Law of Hong Kong.
"The Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region shall exercise the following powers and functions... To pardon persons convicted of criminal offences or commute their penalties".
(Article 72), the President of India
can grant a pardon or reduce
the sentence of a convicted person, particularly in cases involving capital punishment. A similar & parallel power vests in the Governors of each State under Article 161.
However, it is important to note that India has a unitary structure of government and there is no body of state law. All crimes are crimes against the Union of India. Therefore, a convention has developed that the Governor's powers is exercised for only minor offenses, while requests for pardons and reprieves for major offenses and offenses committed in the Union Territories are deferred to the President.
Both the President and Governor are bound by the advice of their respective Councils of Ministers & hence the exercise of this power is of an executive character.It is therefore subject to Judicial Review (Maru Ram v Union of India, confirmed by Kehar Singh vs Union of India,1989).
It also depends upon other provisions of law i.e.,section 54&55 of Indian penal code,Sections 432,433 &433A of criminal procedure code of Indian criminal justice system and also the sentencing policies of state.("the power under articles 72 /161.... is absolute and cannot be fettered by any statutory provisions such as sections432,433 and 433A of the Crpc.This power cannot be altered,modified or interfered with in any manner whatsoever by any statutory provisions or prison rules"- Maru Ram v Union of India)
has the power to pardon and offer clemency under Article 110, § 1, §§ 11.
the power of clemency is nominally exercised by the president. However the President of Ireland
must act "on the advice" of the cabinet, so in practice such decisions are made by the government of the day and the president has no discretion in the matter. The responsibility can also be vested in persons or bodies other than the president. The Irish constitution
states (in Article 13.6) that "The right of pardon and the power to commute or remit punishment imposed by any court exercising criminal jurisdiction are hereby vested in the President, but such power of commutation or remission may also be conferred by law on other authorities".
List of people who have received a Presidential Pardon since 1938
the President of Israel
has the power to pardon criminals or give them clemency. The pardon is given following a recommendation by the Minister of Justice
.
After the Kav 300 affair
President Chaim Herzog
issued a pardon to four members of the Shin Bet prior to them being indicted
. This unusual act was the first of its kind in Israel.
, the President of the Republic
may “ ... grant pardons, or commute punishments ...” according to article 87 of the Italian Constitution. Like other acts of the president, the pardon requires the countersignature of the competent government minister. The Constitutional Court of Italy
has ruled that the Minister of Justice is obliged to sign acts of pardon.
The pardon may remove the punishment altogether or change its form. Unless the decree of pardon states otherwise, the pardon does not remove any incidental effects of a criminal conviction, such as a mention in a certificate of conduct (174 c.p.).
According to article 79 of the Italian Constitution the Parliament may grant amnesty (article 151 c.p.) and pardon (article 174 c.p.) by law deliberated a majority of two thirds of the components.
, the President
is granted the right of pardon by Article 139 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland. As for October 2008, 7819 people were pardoned, while 3046 people's appeals were declined.
is granted the right of pardon by Article 89 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation. The Pardon Committee manages lists of people eligible for pardon and directs them to the President for signing. While President Boris Yeltsin
frequently used his power of pardon, his successor Vladimir Putin
was much more hesitant; in the final years of his presidency he did not grant pardons at all.
De-jure pardon can be requested after the half of the sentence (but not often that 1 year), de facto even after sentence made in force. But in practice, the president reduced the sentence only to eligible for parole.
There were only 2 pardons discarded the whole sentence: one for espionage (20 years sentence), another for robbery (fled under arrest).
, 1996 (Act 108 of 1996), the President of the Republic of South Africa is responsible for pardoning or reprieving offenders. This power of the President is only exercised in highly exceptional cases.
To pardon a person is to forgive a person for his/her deeds. The pardon process is therefore not available to persons who maintain their innocence and is not an advanced form of appeal procedure.
Pardon is only granted for minor offences after a period of 10 years has elapsed since the relevant conviction.
For many serious offences (for example if the relevant court viewed the offence in such a serious light that direct imprisonment was imposed) pardon will not be granted even if more than 10 years have elapsed since the conviction.
as a privilege of the King of Spain (article 62.i: "Functions of the King"). The Spanish Constitution defines it as a renounce on the State's part of its own punitive power on behalf of an individual, founded on reasons of equity or public interest. The Constitution subjects royal pardons to the Law and forbids general pardons, so they have to be granted individually. Theoretically, royal pardon can be granted for the general offense or the accessory offenses alone; if it is granted for the general offense, the accessory ones it implies are also pardoned, with the exception of punishments involving political rights (i.e., removal of the right to run for a public office as a result of a sentence), which have to be explicitly mentioned in the pardon decree if they are going to be pardoned.
The procedure and requirements for the grant of the pardon are given by the Law of 18 June, 1870, modified by the Law 1/1988 of 14 January. The application for royal pardon has to be carried out by the convicted person himself, his relatives or any other person in his name. The convicting Court will then issue a report of the case, which shall be considered along with the public comments of the Prosecutor and the victims of the crime if there were any. All this is gathered by the Minister of Justice, who will present the pardon issue it to the Cabinet of Ministers. If the Cabinet decides pardon to be granted, then the Minister of Justice will recommend it to be granted to the King. Pardons are issued by Royal Decree and have to be published in the Boletín Oficial del Estado (the Public Journal).
Pardons are not commonly conceded in Spain but for offenders convicted for minor crimes who are about to complete their sentence and have shown good behaviour and repentance. Dating back to medieval times, several organisations and religious brotherhoods still hold the right of granting pardons as part of some privilege or other granted to them by the King of Spain. The scope of this privilege depends on the royal charter received by the organisation when their right to concede pardons was granted, though it usually holds only for minor offenses in very especial conditions; this right is implicitly acknowledged by the public offices nowadays, though it is not exercised but following the usual procedure for royal pardons. Traditionally, they will propose some petty criminal about to end his sentence for pardon being granted to him, and he/she will be released following the tradition to which the pardon holds, usually during the Holy Week. This type of pardons are distinguished from the usual ones in that they only release the prisoner from jail, halting the sentence, but do not pardon the offense itself.
, pardons may be granted by the Swiss Federal Assembly for crimes prosecuted by the federal authorities
. For crimes under cantonal jurisdiction
, cantonal law designates the authority competent to grant pardons (if any). In most cantons, the cantonal parliament may pardon felonies, and the cantonal government may pardon misdemeanor
s and minor infractions.
is known as the royal prerogative
of mercy. It was traditionally in the absolute power of the monarch to pardon and release an individual who had been convicted of a crime from that conviction and its intended penalty. Pardons were granted to many in the 18th century on condition that the convicted felons accept transportation overseas, such as to Australia
. The first General Pardon in England was issued in celebration of the coronation
of Edward III
in 1327. In 2006 all British
soldier
s executed for cowardice
during World War I
were pardoned, resolving a long-running controversy about the justice of their executions. (See Armed Forces Act 2006
.)
There are significant procedural differences in the present use of the royal pardon, however. Today the monarch only grants pardons on the advice of a government minister: the Justice Secretary within England and Wales, the First Minister of Scotland
, or the Northern Ireland Secretary
. The Defence Secretary
is responsible for military cases. It is government policy to only grant pardons to those who are "morally" innocent of the offence, as opposed to those who may have been wrongly convicted by misapplication of the law. Pardons are generally no longer issued prior to conviction, but only after conviction. A pardon is no longer considered to remove the conviction itself, but only removes the penalty which was imposed. Use of the royal prerogative of mercy is now rare, particularly since the establishment of the Criminal Cases Review Commission
and Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission
, which provide a statutory remedy for miscarriages of justice.
Therefore, the granting of pardons is very rare and the vast majority of recognised miscarriages of justice were decided upon by the courts. During the Birmingham Six
controversy, then Home Secretary Douglas Hurd
stressed that he could only make the decision for a pardon if he was "convinced of innocence", which at the time he was not.
One notorious recent case was that of the drug smugglers John Haase and Paul Bennett. They were pardoned in July 1996 from 18-year sentences, having served ten months, on the advice of then Home Secretary Michael Howard
. This was intended to reward them for information they gave to the authorities, but there was speculation about Howard’s motives. In 2008, they were given 20-year and 22-year sentences after it was found that their information was unreliable.
In 1980, after the courts refused to, the Home Secretary William Whitelaw used the royal prerogative of mercy to free David Cooper and Michael McMahon, both accused of murder and convicted on poor evidence. They died in the 1990s, and were fully cleared posthumously.
According to the Act of Settlement
a pardon cannot prevent a person from being impeached
by Parliament, but may rescind the penalty following conviction. In England and Wales
nobody may be pardoned for an offence under section 11 of the Habeas Corpus Act 1679
(unlawfully transporting prisoners out of England and Wales). http://www.statutelaw.gov.uk/content.aspx?LegType=All+Legislation&searchEnacted=0&extentMatchOnly=0&confersPower=0&blanketAmendment=0&sortAlpha=0&PageNumber=0&NavFrom=0&parentActiveTextDocId=1518495&ActiveTextDocId=1518509&filesize=7428
, the pardon power for federal crime
s is granted to the President of the United States
under Article II, Section 2 of the United States Constitution which states that the President "shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment
." The Supreme Court of the United States
has interpreted this language to include the power to grant pardons, conditional pardons, commutations of sentence, conditional commutations of sentence, remissions of fines and forfeitures, respites
and amnesties
.
All federal pardon petitions are addressed to the President, who grants or denies the request. Typically, applications for pardons are referred for review and non-binding recommendation by the Office of the Pardon Attorney
, an official of the United States Department of Justice
. The percentage of pardons and reprieves granted varies from administration to administration (fewer pardons have been granted since World War II
).
The pardon power was controversial from the outset; many Anti-Federalists
remembered examples of royal abuses of the pardon power in Europe, and warned that the same would happen in the new republic. Alexander Hamilton
defended the pardon power in Federalist Papers
, particularly in Federalist No. 74
. In his final day in office, George Washington
granted the first high-profile federal pardon to leaders of the Whiskey Rebellion
.
Many pardons have been controversial. Critics argue that pardons have been used more often for the sake of political expediency than to correct judicial error. One of the more famous recent pardons was granted by President Gerald Ford
to former President Richard Nixon
on September 8, 1974, for official misconduct which gave rise to the Watergate scandal
. Polls showed a majority of Americans disapproved of the pardon, and Ford's public-approval ratings tumbled afterward. Other controversial uses of the pardon power include Andrew Johnson
's sweeping pardons of thousands of former Confederate officials and military personnel after the American Civil War
, Jimmy Carter
's grant of amnesty to Vietnam-era draft dodger
s, George H. W. Bush's
pardons of 75 people, including six Reagan administration officials accused and/or convicted in connection with the Iran-Contra affair, and Bill Clinton's
commutation of sentences for 16 members of FALN in 1999 and of 140 people on his last day in office
, including billionaire
fugitive
Marc Rich
. Most recently, George W. Bush's
commutation of the prison term of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby
was controversial.
The Justice Department recommends anyone requesting a pardon must wait five years after conviction or release prior to receiving a pardon. A presidential pardon may be granted at any time, however, and as when Ford pardoned Nixon, the pardoned person need not yet have been convicted or even formally charged with a crime. Clemency may also be granted without the filing of a formal request and even if the intended recipient has no desire to be pardoned. In the overwhelming majority of cases, however, the Pardon Attorney will consider only petitions from persons who have completed their sentences and, in addition, have demonstrated their ability to lead a responsible and productive life for a significant period after conviction or release from confinement.
It appears that a pardon can be rejected, and must be affirmatively accepted to be officially recognized by the courts. Acceptance also carries with it an admission of guilt. However, the federal courts have yet to make it clear how this logic applies to persons who are deceased (such as Henry Ossian Flipper
- who was pardoned by Bill Clinton), those who are relieved from penalties as a result of general amnesties and those whose punishments are relieved via a commutation of sentence (which cannot be rejected in any sense of the language.)
While a presidential pardon will restore various rights lost as a result of the pardoned offense and should lessen to some extent the stigma arising from a conviction, it will not erase or expunge the record of that conviction. Therefore, even if a person is granted a pardon, they must still disclose their conviction on any form where such information is required, although they may also disclose the fact that they received a pardon. In addition, most civil disabilities attendant upon a federal felony conviction, such as loss of the right to vote and hold state public office, are imposed by state rather than federal law, and also may be removed by state action. Because the federal pardon process is exacting and may be more time-consuming than analogous state procedures, pardon recipients may wish to consult with the appropriate authorities in the state of their residence regarding the procedures for restoring their state civil rights.
A symbolic use of the presidential pardon is the National Thanksgiving Turkey Presentation
each Thanksgiving
, in which a domestic turkey is pardoned from being slaughtered for Thanksgiving dinner
and allowed to live out its life on a farm.
. However, the governors
of most of the 50 states
have the power to grant pardons or reprieves for offenses under state criminal law. In other states, that power is committed to an appointed agency or board, or to a board and the governor in some hybrid arrangement (in some states the agency is merged with that of the parole board
, as in the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board
). On at least two occasions, state governors — George Ryan
of Illinois and Toney Anaya
of New Mexico — have commuted all death sentences in their respective states prior to leaving office.
The principle of the rule of law
is intended to be a safeguard against such arbitrary governance. The rule of law, in its most basic form, is the principle that no one is above the law. Thomas Paine
stated in his pamphlet Common Sense
(1776): "For as in absolute governments the king is law, so in free countries the law ought to be king; and there ought to be no other."
Some critics, such as ethicist Jacob Appel
, argue that the pardon power is not used nearly widely enough. According to Appel, "It often seems that the principal purpose of these rare reprieves, much like the pardoning of a Thanksgiving Day turkey
, is to make the pardoning politicians appear generous and affable to the electorate."
The history of this debate reaches at least as far back as Plato
, and evidence of it is found in many cultures (see Overview of the Rule of Law).
United States
Forgiveness
Forgiveness is typically defined as the process of concluding resentment, indignation or anger as a result of a perceived offense, difference or mistake, or ceasing to demand punishment or restitution. The Oxford English Dictionary defines forgiveness as 'to grant free pardon and to give up all...
of a crime
Crime
Crime is the breach of rules or laws for which some governing authority can ultimately prescribe a conviction...
or the cancellation (in whole or in part) of the penalty associated with it. It is a general concept that encompasses several related procedures: pardoning, commutation, remission and reprieves. A pardon is the forgiveness of a crime and the cancellation of the relevant penalty; it is usually granted by a head of state
Head of State
A head of state is the individual that serves as the chief public representative of a monarchy, republic, federation, commonwealth or other kind of state. His or her role generally includes legitimizing the state and exercising the political powers, functions, and duties granted to the head of...
(such as a monarch
Monarch
A monarch is the person who heads a monarchy. This is a form of government in which a state or polity is ruled or controlled by an individual who typically inherits the throne by birth and occasionally rules for life or until abdication...
or president
President
A president is a leader of an organization, company, trade union, university, or country.Etymologically, a president is one who presides, who sits in leadership...
) or by a competent church authority. Commutation or remission is the lessening of a penalty without forgiveness for the crime; the beneficiary is still considered guilty of the offense. A reprieve is the temporary postponement of punishment.
Today, pardons are granted in many countries when individuals have demonstrated that they have fulfilled their debt to society, or are otherwise considered to be deserving. Pardons are sometimes offered to persons who claim they have been wrongfully convicted. Some believe accepting such a pardon implicitly constitutes an admission of guilt, so in some cases the offer is refused. (Cases of wrongful conviction are nowadays more often dealt with by appeal
Appeal
An appeal is a petition for review of a case that has been decided by a court of law. The petition is made to a higher court for the purpose of overturning the lower court's decision....
than by pardon). Clemency plays a very important role when capital punishment
Capital punishment
Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...
is applied.
Pardons
The Parole Board of Canada (PBC) is the federal agencyStructure of the Canadian federal government
The following list outlines the Structure of the Canadian federal government.Cabinet-level Departments, Agencies, Secretariats and Offices are denoted in bold with the corresponding Minister listed alongside.-Crown:* Monarchy of Canada...
responsible for making pardon decisions under the Criminal Records Act
Criminal Records Act
The Criminal Records Act is an Act to provide for the relief of persons who have been convicted of offences and have subsequently rehabilitated themselves.- External links :*...
(CRA). Under the CRA, the PBC can issue, grant, deny and revoke pardons.
A pardon keeps a judicial record of a conviction
Conviction
In law, a conviction is the verdict that results when a court of law finds a defendant guilty of a crime.The opposite of a conviction is an acquittal . In Scotland and in the Netherlands, there can also be a verdict of "not proven", which counts as an acquittal...
separate and apart from other
criminal records
Criminal Records
Criminal Records is the name of a UK based independent record label representing basement bands. It was formed in 2004 and focuses of the emergence of the subgenre known as Basement Rock or Basement. They represent over 20 UK bands.-External links:* *...
, and gives law abiding citizens an opportunity to reintegrate into Canadian society.
The CRA removes all information about the conviction for which an individual
received the pardon from the Canadian Police Information Centre
Canadian Police Information Centre
The Canadian Police Information Centre is the central police database where Canada's law enforcement agencies can access information on a number of matters. It is Canada's only national law enforcement networking computer system ensuring officers all across the country can access the same...
(CPIC). Federal
agencies cannot give out information about the conviction without approval from the
Minister of Public Safety Canada.
A pardon does not, however, erase the fact that an individual was convicted of a crime. The criminal record is not erased, but it is kept separate and apart from other (non-pardoned)
criminal records.
A pardon removes disqualifications caused by a criminal conviction, such as the ability to contract with the federal government, or eligibility for Canadian citizenship.
If an individual in receipt of a pardon is convicted of a new offence, the information may lead to a reactivation of the criminal record for which the pardon was received in CPIC.
A pardon does not guarantee entry or visa
Visa (document)
A visa is a document showing that a person is authorized to enter the territory for which it was issued, subject to permission of an immigration official at the time of actual entry. The authorization may be a document, but more commonly it is a stamp endorsed in the applicant's passport...
privileges to another country. Before travelling to another country, individuals must still contact the authorities of the country in question to find out what the requirements are to enter that country.
Processing of pardons by the National Parole Board generally takes on average 60 days for a summary offence
Summary offence
A summary offence is a criminal act in some common law jurisdictions that can be proceeded with summarily, without the right to a jury trial and/or indictment .- United States :...
and 180 days for an indictable offence
Indictable offence
In many common law jurisdictions , an indictable offence is an offence which can only be tried on an indictment after a preliminary hearing to determine whether there is a prima facie case to answer or by a grand jury...
.
Individuals can apply for a Pardon if they were convicted as an adult of a criminal offence in Canada, or of an offence under a federal act or regulation
Regulation
Regulation is administrative legislation that constitutes or constrains rights and allocates responsibilities. It can be distinguished from primary legislation on the one hand and judge-made law on the other...
of Canada, or if they were convicted of a crime in another country and were transferred to Canada under the Transfer of Offenders Act or International Transfer of Offenders Act. Non-Canadian citizens are not eligible for a Canadian pardon unless they were convicted of a crime in Canada.
To be eligible for a pardon, individuals must have completed all of their sentences and
a waiting period
Waiting period
A waiting period is a period of time which one must wait in order for a specific action to occur, after that action is requested or mandated.The term is commonly used in reference to gun control in the United States, where some U.S...
.
Individuals are considered to have completed all of their sentences if they have:
- paid all finesFinesFines is a municipality of Almería province, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain.-Demographics:-External links: - Sistema de Información Multiterritorial de Andalucía [ Fines] - Diputación Provincial de Almería...
, surcharges, costs, restitutionRestitutionThe law of restitution is the law of gains-based recovery. It is to be contrasted with the law of compensation, which is the law of loss-based recovery. Obligations to make restitution and obligations to pay compensation are each a type of legal response to events in the real world. When a court...
and compensationDamagesIn law, damages is an award, typically of money, to be paid to a person as compensation for loss or injury; grammatically, it is a singular noun, not plural.- Compensatory damages :...
orders - served all sentences of imprisonment, conditional sentencesConditional sentence (Canada)A conditional sentence is a non-custodial punishment for crime in Canada.-Description:Conditional refers to rules the offender must follow in order to remain out of prison, which are similar to when one is on parole. Conditional sentences should not apply in certain cases, such as the infamous case...
, including parole or statutory release - completed their probationProbationProbation literally means testing of behaviour or abilities. In a legal sense, an offender on probation is ordered to follow certain conditions set forth by the court, often under the supervision of a probation officer...
order
Following completion of all of their sentences, individuals must also complete a waiting period, as follows:
- 3 years for summarySummary offenceA summary offence is a criminal act in some common law jurisdictions that can be proceeded with summarily, without the right to a jury trial and/or indictment .- United States :...
convictions under the Criminal CodeCriminal Code of CanadaThe Criminal Code or Code criminel is a law that codifies most criminal offences and procedures in Canada. Its official long title is "An Act respecting the criminal law"...
or other federal act or regulation, except sexual crimes against children - 3 years under the National Defence Act, if fined $2,000 or less, detained or imprisoned 6 months or less, or subjected to various lesser punishments for a service offence
- 5 years for indictableIndictable offenceIn many common law jurisdictions , an indictable offence is an offence which can only be tried on an indictment after a preliminary hearing to determine whether there is a prima facie case to answer or by a grand jury...
convictions under the Criminal Code or other federal act or regulation and summary convictions of sexual crimes against children - 5 years for all convictions by a Canadian offender transferred to Canada under the Transfer of Offenders Act or International Transfer of Offenders Act
- 5 years under the National Defence ActNational Defence ActThe National Defence Act is the primary enabling legislation for organizing and funding Canada's military....
, if you were fined more than $2,000, detained or imprisoned more than 6 months, or dismissed from service - 10 years for indictableIndictable offenceIn many common law jurisdictions , an indictable offence is an offence which can only be tried on an indictment after a preliminary hearing to determine whether there is a prima facie case to answer or by a grand jury...
convictions for sexual crimes against children and criminals receiving more than 2 years of imprisonment time for "serious personal injury offence" such as manslaughterManslaughterManslaughter is a legal term for the killing of a human being, in a manner considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is said to have first been made by the Ancient Athenian lawmaker Dracon in the 7th century BC.The law generally differentiates...
or other designated offence under section 752 of the Criminal Code.
Individuals can apply for a pardon by filling out the application forms available from the Parole Board and by paying a $150 pardon application fee. Be sure to send all required documents or the application can be delayed. The NPB has a toll-free pardons helpline at 1-800-874-2652 and a website.http://www.pardons.gc.ca.
Clemency
In Canada, clemency is granted by the Governor-General of Canada or the Governor in Council (the federal cabinet) under the Royal Prerogative of Mercy. Applications are also made to the National Parole Board, as in pardons, but clemency may involve the commutation of a sentence, or the remission of all or part of the sentence, a respiteRespite
Respite may be:* Respite , delay of sentence* Respite care, care provided as temporary replacement of a live-in caregiver* Respite , practice of allocating extraordinary resources toward recovery of workers from effects of unusual stress...
from the sentence (for a medical condition) or a relief
Relief
Relief is a sculptural technique. The term relief is from the Latin verb levo, to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is thus to give the impression that the sculpted material has been raised above the background plane...
from a prohibition (e.g., to allow someone to drive that has been prohibited from driving).
Chile
In Chile, the institution of pardon (indulto) is regulated in the Criminal CodeCriminal Code
A criminal code is a document which compiles all, or a significant amount of, a particular jurisdiction's criminal law...
(article 93, Nº 4º), which deals with the extinction of criminal liability. “Pardon only grants the remission or the commutation of the sentence; it does not remove the condition of having been condemned […]”. The pardon may be either general, when it is granted to all those covered by a specific law passed by qualified quorum in National Congress
National Congress of Chile
The National Congress is the legislative branch of the government of the Republic of Chile.The National Congress of Chile was founded on July 4, 1811...
, or particular, when it is granted by Supreme Decree of the President of the Republic
President of Chile
The President of the Republic of Chile is both the head of state and the head of government of the Republic of Chile. The President is responsible of the government and state administration...
. In Chile's presidential regime, the President is the Head of State
Head of State
A head of state is the individual that serves as the chief public representative of a monarchy, republic, federation, commonwealth or other kind of state. His or her role generally includes legitimizing the state and exercising the political powers, functions, and duties granted to the head of...
; in this capacity, he has the discretionary power to grant particular pardons. He is not obliged to seek opinion or approval from other authorities, although, the granting of pardons is limited by the norms of Law No. 18.050 (1981) and its Regulations (Decree No. 1542 of 1981 on particular pardons), which forbid particular pardons for those convicted of a crime of terrorism.
France
Pardons and acts of clemency (grâces) are granted by the President of France, who, ultimately, is the sole judge of the propriety of the measure. It is a prerogative of the President which is directly inherited from that of the Kings of France.The convicted person sends a request for pardon to the President of the Republic. The prosecutor
Prosecutor
The prosecutor is the chief legal representative of the prosecution in countries with either the common law adversarial system, or the civil law inquisitorial system...
of the court that pronounced the verdict reports on the case, and the case goes to the Ministry of Justice's directorate of criminal affairs and pardons for further consideration.
If granted, the decree
Decree
A decree is a rule of law issued by a head of state , according to certain procedures . It has the force of law...
of pardon is signed by the President, the Prime Minister
Prime Minister of France
The Prime Minister of France in the Fifth Republic is the head of government and of the Council of Ministers of France. The head of state is the President of the French Republic...
, the Minister of Justice and possibly other ministers involved in the consideration of the case. It is not published in the Journal Officiel
Journal Officiel de la République Française
The Journal Officiel de la République Française is the official gazette of the French Republic. It publishes the major legal official information from the national Government of France.-Publications:...
.
The decree may spare the applicant from serving the balance of his or her sentence, or commute the sentence to a lesser one. It does not suppress the right for the victim of the crime to obtain compensation for the damages
Damages
In law, damages is an award, typically of money, to be paid to a person as compensation for loss or injury; grammatically, it is a singular noun, not plural.- Compensatory damages :...
it suffered, and does not erase the condemnation from the criminal record
Criminal record
A criminal record is a record of a person's criminal history, generally used by potential employers, lenders etc. to assess his or her trustworthiness. The information included in a criminal record varies between countries and even between jurisdictions within a country...
.
When the death penalty was in force in France, all capital sentences resulted in a presidential review for a possible clemency. Executions were carried out if and only if the President reject clemency, by signing a document on which it was written : "decides to let justice take its course".
The Parliament of France
Parliament of France
The French Parliament is the bicameral legislature of the French Republic, consisting of the Senate and the National Assembly . Each assembly conducts legislative sessions at a separate location in Paris: the Palais du Luxembourg for the Senate, the Palais Bourbon for the National Assembly.Each...
, on occasions, grants amnesty
Amnesty
Amnesty is a legislative or executive act by which a state restores those who may have been guilty of an offense against it to the positions of innocent people, without changing the laws defining the offense. It includes more than pardon, in as much as it obliterates all legal remembrance of the...
. This is a different concept and procedure from that described above, although the phrase "presidential amnesty" (amnistie présidentielle) is sometimes pejoratively applied to some acts of parliament traditionally voted upon after a presidential election, granting amnesty for minor crimes.
Germany
Similar to the United States, the right to grant pardon in GermanyGermany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
is divided between the federal and the state level. Federal jurisdiction in matters of criminal law is mostly restricted to appeals against decisions of state courts. Only "political" crimes like treason or terrorism are tried on behalf of the federal government by the highest state courts. Accordingly, the category of persons eligible for a federal pardon is rather narrow. The right to grant a federal pardon lies in the office of the President of Germany
President of Germany
The President of the Federal Republic of Germany is the country's head of state. His official title in German is Bundespräsident . Germany has a parliamentary system of government and so the position of President is largely ceremonial...
, but he or she can transfer this power to other persons, such as the chancellor or the minister of justice. In early 2007 there was a widespread public discussion about the granting of pardons in Germany after convicted Red Army Faction
Red Army Faction
The radicalized were, like many in the New Left, influenced by:* Sociological developments, pressure within the educational system in and outside Europe and the U.S...
terrorist Christian Klar
Christian Klar
Christian Klar was a leading member of the second generation Red Army Faction between the 1970s and 80s...
, serving a six times life imprisonment sentence since 1982 and not eligible for parole until at least 2009, filed a petition for pardon. President Horst Köhler
Horst Köhler
Horst Köhler is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union. He was President of Germany from 2004 to 2010. As the candidate of the two Christian Democratic sister parties, the CDU and the CSU, and the liberal FDP, Köhler was elected to his first five-year term by the Federal Assembly on...
ultimately denied his request.
For all other (and therefore the vast majority of) convicts, pardons are in the jurisdiction of the states. In some states it is granted by the respective cabinet, but in most states the state constitution vests the authority in the state prime minister. As on the federal level, the authority may be transferred.
Amnesty
Amnesty
Amnesty is a legislative or executive act by which a state restores those who may have been guilty of an offense against it to the positions of innocent people, without changing the laws defining the offense. It includes more than pardon, in as much as it obliterates all legal remembrance of the...
can be granted only by federal law.
Greece
The Constitution of GreeceConstitution of Greece
The Constitution of Greece , was created by the Fifth Revisional Parliament of the Hellenes and entered into force in 1975. It has been revised three times since, most significantly in 1986, and also in 2001 and in 2008. The Constitutional history of Greece goes back to the Greek War of...
grants the power of pardon to the President of the Republic (Art. 47, § 1). He/She can pardon, commute or remit punishment imposed by any court, on the proposal of the Minister of Justice and after receiving the opinion (not the consent necessarily) of the Pardon Committee.
Hong Kong
Prior to the handover of Hong Kong to ChinaTransfer of the sovereignty of Hong Kong
The transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong from the United Kingdom to the People's Republic of China, referred to as ‘the Return’ or ‘the Reunification’ by the Chinese and ‘the Handover’ by others, took place on 1 July 1997...
in 1997, the power of pardon was a royal prerogative
Royal Prerogative
The royal prerogative is a body of customary authority, privilege, and immunity, recognized in common law and, sometimes, in civil law jurisdictions possessing a monarchy as belonging to the sovereign alone. It is the means by which some of the executive powers of government, possessed by and...
of mercy of the monarch of the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. This was used and cited the most often in cases of inmates who had been given the death penalty: from 1965 to 1993 (when the death penalty was formally abolished) those who were sentenced to death were automatically commuted to life imprisonment under the Royal Prerogative.
Since the handover, the Chief Executive of Hong Kong
Chief Executive of Hong Kong
The Chief Executive of Hong Kong is the President of the Executive Council of Hong Kong and head of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. The position was created to replace the Governor of Hong Kong, who was the head of the Hong Kong government during British rule...
now exercises the power to grant pardons and commute penalties under section 12 of article 48 Basic Law of Hong Kong.
"The Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region shall exercise the following powers and functions... To pardon persons convicted of criminal offences or commute their penalties".
India
Under the Constitution of IndiaConstitution of India
The Constitution of India is the supreme law of India. It lays down the framework defining fundamental political principles, establishes the structure, procedures, powers, and duties of government institutions, and sets out fundamental rights, directive principles, and the duties of citizens...
(Article 72), the President of India
President of India
The President of India is the head of state and first citizen of India, as well as the Supreme Commander of the Indian Armed Forces. President of India is also the formal head of all the three branches of Indian Democracy - Legislature, Executive and Judiciary...
can grant a pardon or reduce
Commutation of sentence
Commutation of sentence involves the reduction of legal penalties, especially in terms of imprisonment. Unlike a pardon, a commutation does not nullify the conviction and is often conditional. Clemency is a similar term, meaning the lessening of the penalty of the crime without forgiving the crime...
the sentence of a convicted person, particularly in cases involving capital punishment. A similar & parallel power vests in the Governors of each State under Article 161.
However, it is important to note that India has a unitary structure of government and there is no body of state law. All crimes are crimes against the Union of India. Therefore, a convention has developed that the Governor's powers is exercised for only minor offenses, while requests for pardons and reprieves for major offenses and offenses committed in the Union Territories are deferred to the President.
Both the President and Governor are bound by the advice of their respective Councils of Ministers & hence the exercise of this power is of an executive character.It is therefore subject to Judicial Review (Maru Ram v Union of India, confirmed by Kehar Singh vs Union of India,1989).
It also depends upon other provisions of law i.e.,section 54&55 of Indian penal code,Sections 432,433 &433A of criminal procedure code of Indian criminal justice system and also the sentencing policies of state.("the power under articles 72 /161.... is absolute and cannot be fettered by any statutory provisions such as sections432,433 and 433A of the Crpc.This power cannot be altered,modified or interfered with in any manner whatsoever by any statutory provisions or prison rules"- Maru Ram v Union of India)
Iran
In the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Supreme LeaderSupreme Leader of Iran
The Supreme Leader of Iran is the highest ranking political and religious authority in the Islamic Republic of Iran. The post was established by the constitution in accordance with the concept of Guardianship of the Islamic Jurists...
has the power to pardon and offer clemency under Article 110, § 1, §§ 11.
Ireland
In the Republic of IrelandRepublic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
the power of clemency is nominally exercised by the president. However the President of Ireland
President of Ireland
The President of Ireland is the head of state of Ireland. The President is usually directly elected by the people for seven years, and can be elected for a maximum of two terms. The presidency is largely a ceremonial office, but the President does exercise certain limited powers with absolute...
must act "on the advice" of the cabinet, so in practice such decisions are made by the government of the day and the president has no discretion in the matter. The responsibility can also be vested in persons or bodies other than the president. The Irish constitution
Constitution of Ireland
The Constitution of Ireland is the fundamental law of the Irish state. The constitution falls broadly within the liberal democratic tradition. It establishes an independent state based on a system of representative democracy and guarantees certain fundamental rights, along with a popularly elected...
states (in Article 13.6) that "The right of pardon and the power to commute or remit punishment imposed by any court exercising criminal jurisdiction are hereby vested in the President, but such power of commutation or remission may also be conferred by law on other authorities".
List of people who have received a Presidential Pardon since 1938
- 1940 Thomas Quinn granted by Douglas Hyde
- 1943 Walter Brady granted by Douglas Hyde
- 1992 Edward Nicholas Kelly granted by Mary Robinson
- 1999 William Geary granted by Mary McAleese
- Source: Murdoch's Dictionary of Irish Law by Henry Murdoch, Page 566: 3rd Edition: ISBN 0951403257
Israel
In IsraelIsrael
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
the President of Israel
President of Israel
The President of the State of Israel is the head of state of Israel. The position is largely an apolitical ceremonial figurehead role, with the real executive power lying in the hands of the Prime Minister. The current president is Shimon Peres who took office on 15 July 2007...
has the power to pardon criminals or give them clemency. The pardon is given following a recommendation by the Minister of Justice
Justice Minister of Israel
The Justice Minister of Israel is the political head of the Israeli Ministry of Justice and a position in the Israeli cabinet. The current minister is Ya'akov Ne'eman, an independent who is not a member of the Knesset....
.
After the Kav 300 affair
Kav 300 affair
The Bus 300 affair , also known as Kav 300 affair, was an affair in which Shin Bet members executed two Palestinian bus hijackers, immediately after the hostage crises incident ended and the two militants were captured....
President Chaim Herzog
Chaim Herzog
Chaim Herzog served as the sixth President of Israel , following a distinguished career in both the British Army and the Israel Defense Forces .-Early life:...
issued a pardon to four members of the Shin Bet prior to them being indicted
Indictment
An indictment , in the common-law legal system, is a formal accusation that a person has committed a crime. In jurisdictions that maintain the concept of felonies, the serious criminal offence is a felony; jurisdictions that lack the concept of felonies often use that of an indictable offence—an...
. This unusual act was the first of its kind in Israel.
Italy
In ItalyItaly
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, the President of the Republic
President of the Italian Republic
The President of the Italian Republic is the head of state of Italy and, as such, is intended to represent national unity and guarantee that Italian politics comply with the Constitution. The president's term of office lasts for seven years....
may “ ... grant pardons, or commute punishments ...” according to article 87 of the Italian Constitution. Like other acts of the president, the pardon requires the countersignature of the competent government minister. The Constitutional Court of Italy
Constitutional Court of Italy
The Constitutional Court of Italy is a supreme court of Italy, the other being the Court of Cassation. Sometimes the name Consulta is used as a metonym for it, because its sessions are held in Palazzo della Consulta in Rome....
has ruled that the Minister of Justice is obliged to sign acts of pardon.
The pardon may remove the punishment altogether or change its form. Unless the decree of pardon states otherwise, the pardon does not remove any incidental effects of a criminal conviction, such as a mention in a certificate of conduct (174 c.p.).
According to article 79 of the Italian Constitution the Parliament may grant amnesty (article 151 c.p.) and pardon (article 174 c.p.) by law deliberated a majority of two thirds of the components.
Poland
In PolandPoland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, the President
President of the Republic of Poland
The President of the Republic of Poland is the Polish head of state. His or her rights and obligations are determined in the Constitution of Poland....
is granted the right of pardon by Article 139 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland. As for October 2008, 7819 people were pardoned, while 3046 people's appeals were declined.
- Lech WałęsaLech WałęsaLech Wałęsa is a Polish politician, trade-union organizer, and human-rights activist. A charismatic leader, he co-founded Solidarity , the Soviet bloc's first independent trade union, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983, and served as President of Poland between 1990 and 95.Wałęsa was an electrician...
- approved - 3,454
- declined - 384
- Aleksander KwaśniewskiAleksander KwasniewskiAleksander Kwaśniewski is a Polish politician who served as the President of Poland from 1995 to 2005. He was born in Białogard, and during communist rule he was active in the Socialist Union of Polish Students and was the Minister for Sport in the communist government in the 1980s...
- approved - 3,295 (the first term); 795 (the second term); total - 4,090
- declined - 993 (the first term); 1,317 (the second term); total - 2,310
- Lech KaczyńskiLech KaczynskiLech Aleksander Kaczyński was Polish lawyer and politician who served as the President of Poland from 2005 until 2010 and as Mayor of Warsaw from 2002 until 22 December 2005. Before he became a president, he was also a member of the party Prawo i Sprawiedliwość...
(until October 2007)- approved - 77
- declined - 550
Russia
The President of the Russian FederationPresident of the Russian Federation
The President of the Russian Federation is the head of state, supreme commander-in-chief and holder of the highest office within the Russian Federation...
is granted the right of pardon by Article 89 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation. The Pardon Committee manages lists of people eligible for pardon and directs them to the President for signing. While President Boris Yeltsin
Boris Yeltsin
Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin was the first President of the Russian Federation, serving from 1991 to 1999.Originally a supporter of Mikhail Gorbachev, Yeltsin emerged under the perestroika reforms as one of Gorbachev's most powerful political opponents. On 29 May 1990 he was elected the chairman of...
frequently used his power of pardon, his successor Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin served as the second President of the Russian Federation and is the current Prime Minister of Russia, as well as chairman of United Russia and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Union of Russia and Belarus. He became acting President on 31 December 1999, when...
was much more hesitant; in the final years of his presidency he did not grant pardons at all.
De-jure pardon can be requested after the half of the sentence (but not often that 1 year), de facto even after sentence made in force. But in practice, the president reduced the sentence only to eligible for parole.
There were only 2 pardons discarded the whole sentence: one for espionage (20 years sentence), another for robbery (fled under arrest).
South Africa
Under section 84(2)(j) of the Constitution of the Republic of South AfricaSouth Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
, 1996 (Act 108 of 1996), the President of the Republic of South Africa is responsible for pardoning or reprieving offenders. This power of the President is only exercised in highly exceptional cases.
To pardon a person is to forgive a person for his/her deeds. The pardon process is therefore not available to persons who maintain their innocence and is not an advanced form of appeal procedure.
Pardon is only granted for minor offences after a period of 10 years has elapsed since the relevant conviction.
For many serious offences (for example if the relevant court viewed the offence in such a serious light that direct imprisonment was imposed) pardon will not be granted even if more than 10 years have elapsed since the conviction.
Spain
The "derecho de gracia" (right of grace) or "indulto" (pardon) is acknowledged by the Spanish Constitution of 1978Spanish Constitution of 1978
-Structure of the State:The Constitution recognizes the existence of nationalities and regions . Preliminary Title As a result, Spain is now composed entirely of 17 Autonomous Communities and two autonomous cities with varying degrees of autonomy, to the extent that, even though the Constitution...
as a privilege of the King of Spain (article 62.i: "Functions of the King"). The Spanish Constitution defines it as a renounce on the State's part of its own punitive power on behalf of an individual, founded on reasons of equity or public interest. The Constitution subjects royal pardons to the Law and forbids general pardons, so they have to be granted individually. Theoretically, royal pardon can be granted for the general offense or the accessory offenses alone; if it is granted for the general offense, the accessory ones it implies are also pardoned, with the exception of punishments involving political rights (i.e., removal of the right to run for a public office as a result of a sentence), which have to be explicitly mentioned in the pardon decree if they are going to be pardoned.
The procedure and requirements for the grant of the pardon are given by the Law of 18 June, 1870, modified by the Law 1/1988 of 14 January. The application for royal pardon has to be carried out by the convicted person himself, his relatives or any other person in his name. The convicting Court will then issue a report of the case, which shall be considered along with the public comments of the Prosecutor and the victims of the crime if there were any. All this is gathered by the Minister of Justice, who will present the pardon issue it to the Cabinet of Ministers. If the Cabinet decides pardon to be granted, then the Minister of Justice will recommend it to be granted to the King. Pardons are issued by Royal Decree and have to be published in the Boletín Oficial del Estado (the Public Journal).
Pardons are not commonly conceded in Spain but for offenders convicted for minor crimes who are about to complete their sentence and have shown good behaviour and repentance. Dating back to medieval times, several organisations and religious brotherhoods still hold the right of granting pardons as part of some privilege or other granted to them by the King of Spain. The scope of this privilege depends on the royal charter received by the organisation when their right to concede pardons was granted, though it usually holds only for minor offenses in very especial conditions; this right is implicitly acknowledged by the public offices nowadays, though it is not exercised but following the usual procedure for royal pardons. Traditionally, they will propose some petty criminal about to end his sentence for pardon being granted to him, and he/she will be released following the tradition to which the pardon holds, usually during the Holy Week. This type of pardons are distinguished from the usual ones in that they only release the prisoner from jail, halting the sentence, but do not pardon the offense itself.
Switzerland
In SwitzerlandSwitzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
, pardons may be granted by the Swiss Federal Assembly for crimes prosecuted by the federal authorities
Federal administration of Switzerland
The federal administration of Switzerland is the ensemble of agencies that constitute, together with the Swiss Federal Council, the executive branch of the Swiss federal authorities...
. For crimes under cantonal jurisdiction
Cantons of Switzerland
The 26 cantons of Switzerland are the member states of the federal state of Switzerland. Each canton was a fully sovereign state with its own borders, army and currency from the Treaty of Westphalia until the establishment of the Swiss federal state in 1848...
, cantonal law designates the authority competent to grant pardons (if any). In most cantons, the cantonal parliament may pardon felonies, and the cantonal government may pardon misdemeanor
Misdemeanor
A misdemeanor is a "lesser" criminal act in many common law legal systems. Misdemeanors are generally punished much less severely than felonies, but theoretically more so than administrative infractions and regulatory offences...
s and minor infractions.
United Kingdom
The power to grant pardons and reprieves in the United KingdomUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
is known as the royal prerogative
Royal Prerogative
The royal prerogative is a body of customary authority, privilege, and immunity, recognized in common law and, sometimes, in civil law jurisdictions possessing a monarchy as belonging to the sovereign alone. It is the means by which some of the executive powers of government, possessed by and...
of mercy. It was traditionally in the absolute power of the monarch to pardon and release an individual who had been convicted of a crime from that conviction and its intended penalty. Pardons were granted to many in the 18th century on condition that the convicted felons accept transportation overseas, such as to Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. The first General Pardon in England was issued in celebration of the coronation
Coronation
A coronation is a ceremony marking the formal investiture of a monarch and/or their consort with regal power, usually involving the placement of a crown upon their head and the presentation of other items of regalia...
of Edward III
Edward III of England
Edward III was King of England from 1327 until his death and is noted for his military success. Restoring royal authority after the disastrous reign of his father, Edward II, Edward III went on to transform the Kingdom of England into one of the most formidable military powers in Europe...
in 1327. In 2006 all British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
soldier
Soldier
A soldier is a member of the land component of national armed forces; whereas a soldier hired for service in a foreign army would be termed a mercenary...
s executed for cowardice
Cowardice
Cowardice is the perceived failure to demonstrate sufficient mental robustness and courage in the face of a challenge. Under many military codes of justice, cowardice in the face of combat is a crime punishable by death...
during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
were pardoned, resolving a long-running controversy about the justice of their executions. (See Armed Forces Act 2006
Armed Forces Act 2006
The Armed Forces Act 2006 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.It came into force on 31 October 2009. It replaces the three separate Service Discipline Acts as the system of military law under which the British Armed Forces operate...
.)
There are significant procedural differences in the present use of the royal pardon, however. Today the monarch only grants pardons on the advice of a government minister: the Justice Secretary within England and Wales, the First Minister of Scotland
First Minister of Scotland
The First Minister of Scotland is the political leader of Scotland and head of the Scottish Government. The First Minister chairs the Scottish Cabinet and is primarily responsible for the formulation, development and presentation of Scottish Government policy...
, or the Northern Ireland Secretary
Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, informally the Northern Ireland Secretary, is the principal secretary of state in the government of the United Kingdom with responsibilities for Northern Ireland. The Secretary of State is a Minister of the Crown who is accountable to the Parliament of...
. The Defence Secretary
Secretary of State for Defence
The Secretary of State for Defence, popularly known as the Defence Secretary, is the senior Government of the United Kingdom minister in charge of the Ministry of Defence, chairing the Defence Council. It is a Cabinet position...
is responsible for military cases. It is government policy to only grant pardons to those who are "morally" innocent of the offence, as opposed to those who may have been wrongly convicted by misapplication of the law. Pardons are generally no longer issued prior to conviction, but only after conviction. A pardon is no longer considered to remove the conviction itself, but only removes the penalty which was imposed. Use of the royal prerogative of mercy is now rare, particularly since the establishment of the Criminal Cases Review Commission
Criminal Cases Review Commission
The Criminal Cases Review Commission is an non-departmental public body set up following the Royal Commission on Criminal Justice itself a continuation of the May Inquiry. It aims to investigate possible miscarriages of justice in England, Wales and Northern Ireland...
and Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission
Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission
The Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission is a non-departmental public body in Scotland, established by the Criminal Procedure Act 1995 ....
, which provide a statutory remedy for miscarriages of justice.
Therefore, the granting of pardons is very rare and the vast majority of recognised miscarriages of justice were decided upon by the courts. During the Birmingham Six
Birmingham Six
The Birmingham Six were six men—Hugh Callaghan, Patrick Joseph Hill, Gerard Hunter, Richard McIlkenny, William Power and John Walker—sentenced to life imprisonment in 1975 in the United Kingdom for the Birmingham pub bombings. Their convictions were declared unsafe and quashed by the Court of...
controversy, then Home Secretary Douglas Hurd
Douglas Hurd
Douglas Richard Hurd, Baron Hurd of Westwell, CH, CBE, PC , is a British Conservative politician and novelist, who served in the governments of Margaret Thatcher and John Major between 1979 and his retirement in 1995....
stressed that he could only make the decision for a pardon if he was "convinced of innocence", which at the time he was not.
One notorious recent case was that of the drug smugglers John Haase and Paul Bennett. They were pardoned in July 1996 from 18-year sentences, having served ten months, on the advice of then Home Secretary Michael Howard
Michael Howard
Michael Howard, Baron Howard of Lympne, CH, QC, PC is a British politician, who served as the Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition from November 2003 to December 2005...
. This was intended to reward them for information they gave to the authorities, but there was speculation about Howard’s motives. In 2008, they were given 20-year and 22-year sentences after it was found that their information was unreliable.
In 1980, after the courts refused to, the Home Secretary William Whitelaw used the royal prerogative of mercy to free David Cooper and Michael McMahon, both accused of murder and convicted on poor evidence. They died in the 1990s, and were fully cleared posthumously.
According to the Act of Settlement
Act of Settlement 1701
The Act of Settlement is an act of the Parliament of England that was passed in 1701 to settle the succession to the English throne on the Electress Sophia of Hanover and her Protestant heirs. The act was later extended to Scotland, as a result of the Treaty of Union , enacted in the Acts of Union...
a pardon cannot prevent a person from being impeached
Impeachment
Impeachment is a formal process in which an official is accused of unlawful activity, the outcome of which, depending on the country, may include the removal of that official from office as well as other punishment....
by Parliament, but may rescind the penalty following conviction. In England and Wales
England and Wales
England and Wales is a jurisdiction within the United Kingdom. It consists of England and Wales, two of the four countries of the United Kingdom...
nobody may be pardoned for an offence under section 11 of the Habeas Corpus Act 1679
Habeas Corpus Act 1679
The Habeas Corpus Act 1679 is an Act of the Parliament of England passed during the reign of King Charles II by what became known as the Habeas Corpus Parliament to define and strengthen the ancient prerogative writ of habeas corpus, whereby persons unlawfully detained cannot be ordered to be...
(unlawfully transporting prisoners out of England and Wales). http://www.statutelaw.gov.uk/content.aspx?LegType=All+Legislation&searchEnacted=0&extentMatchOnly=0&confersPower=0&blanketAmendment=0&sortAlpha=0&PageNumber=0&NavFrom=0&parentActiveTextDocId=1518495&ActiveTextDocId=1518509&filesize=7428
Federal law
In the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, the pardon power for federal crime
Federal crime
In the United States, a federal crime or federal offense is a crime that is made illegal by U.S. federal legislation. In the United States, criminal law and prosecution happen at both the federal and the state levels; thus a “federal crime” is one that is prosecuted under federal criminal law, and...
s is granted to the President of the United States
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
under Article II, Section 2 of the United States Constitution which states that the President "shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment
Impeachment
Impeachment is a formal process in which an official is accused of unlawful activity, the outcome of which, depending on the country, may include the removal of that official from office as well as other punishment....
." The Supreme Court of the United States
Supreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...
has interpreted this language to include the power to grant pardons, conditional pardons, commutations of sentence, conditional commutations of sentence, remissions of fines and forfeitures, respites
Respite (law)
The pardon power of the United States Constitution has been broadly interpreted to include a variety of specific powers. Among those powers are: pardons, conditional pardons, commutations of sentence, conditional commutations of sentence, remissions of fines and forfeitures, respites and...
and amnesties
Amnesty
Amnesty is a legislative or executive act by which a state restores those who may have been guilty of an offense against it to the positions of innocent people, without changing the laws defining the offense. It includes more than pardon, in as much as it obliterates all legal remembrance of the...
.
All federal pardon petitions are addressed to the President, who grants or denies the request. Typically, applications for pardons are referred for review and non-binding recommendation by the Office of the Pardon Attorney
Office of the Pardon Attorney
The Office of the Pardon Attorney, in consultation with the Attorney General of the United States or his designee, assists the President of the United States in the exercise of executive clemency as authorized under Article II, Section 2, of the Constitution. Under the Constitution, the President's...
, an official of the United States Department of Justice
United States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...
. The percentage of pardons and reprieves granted varies from administration to administration (fewer pardons have been granted since World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
).
The pardon power was controversial from the outset; many Anti-Federalists
Anti-Federalism
Anti-Federalism refers to a movement that opposed the creation of a stronger U.S. federal government and which later opposed the ratification of the Constitution of 1787. The previous constitution, called the Articles of Confederation, gave state governments more authority...
remembered examples of royal abuses of the pardon power in Europe, and warned that the same would happen in the new republic. Alexander Hamilton
Alexander Hamilton
Alexander Hamilton was a Founding Father, soldier, economist, political philosopher, one of America's first constitutional lawyers and the first United States Secretary of the Treasury...
defended the pardon power in Federalist Papers
Federalist Papers
The Federalist Papers are a series of 85 articles or essays promoting the ratification of the United States Constitution. Seventy-seven of the essays were published serially in The Independent Journal and The New York Packet between October 1787 and August 1788...
, particularly in Federalist No. 74
Federalist No. 74
Federalist No. 74 is an essay by Alexander Hamilton and the seventy-fourth of the Federalist Papers. It was published on March 25, 1788 under the pseudonym Publius, the name under which all the Federalist Papers were published...
. In his final day in office, George Washington
George Washington
George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
granted the first high-profile federal pardon to leaders of the Whiskey Rebellion
Whiskey Rebellion
The Whiskey Rebellion, or Whiskey Insurrection, was a tax protest in the United States in the 1790s, during the presidency of George Washington. Farmers who sold their corn in the form of whiskey had to pay a new tax which they strongly resented...
.
Many pardons have been controversial. Critics argue that pardons have been used more often for the sake of political expediency than to correct judicial error. One of the more famous recent pardons was granted by President Gerald Ford
Gerald Ford
Gerald Rudolph "Jerry" Ford, Jr. was the 38th President of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977, and the 40th Vice President of the United States serving from 1973 to 1974...
to former President Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
on September 8, 1974, for official misconduct which gave rise to the Watergate scandal
Watergate scandal
The Watergate scandal was a political scandal during the 1970s in the United States resulting from the break-in of the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C., and the Nixon administration's attempted cover-up of its involvement...
. Polls showed a majority of Americans disapproved of the pardon, and Ford's public-approval ratings tumbled afterward. Other controversial uses of the pardon power include Andrew Johnson
Andrew Johnson
Andrew Johnson was the 17th President of the United States . As Vice-President of the United States in 1865, he succeeded Abraham Lincoln following the latter's assassination. Johnson then presided over the initial and contentious Reconstruction era of the United States following the American...
's sweeping pardons of thousands of former Confederate officials and military personnel after the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, Jimmy Carter
Jimmy Carter
James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...
's grant of amnesty to Vietnam-era draft dodger
Draft dodger
Draft evasion is a term that refers to an intentional failure to comply with the military conscription policies of the nation to which he or she is subject...
s, George H. W. Bush's
George H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 41st President of the United States . He had previously served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States , a congressman, an ambassador, and Director of Central Intelligence.Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts, to...
pardons of 75 people, including six Reagan administration officials accused and/or convicted in connection with the Iran-Contra affair, and Bill Clinton's
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
commutation of sentences for 16 members of FALN in 1999 and of 140 people on his last day in office
Bill Clinton pardons controversy
President Bill Clinton was criticized for some of his pardons and acts of executive clemency. While most presidents grant pardons on several days throughout their terms, Clinton chose to make most of them on January 20, 2001. Collectively, the controversy surrounding these actions has sometimes...
, including billionaire
Billionaire
A billionaire, in countries that use the short scale number naming system, is a person who has a net worth of at least one billion units of a given currency, usually the United States dollar, Euro, or Pound sterling. Forbes magazine updates a complete list of U.S. dollar billionaires around the...
fugitive
Fugitive
A fugitive is a person who is fleeing from custody, whether it be from private slavery, a government arrest, government or non-government questioning, vigilante violence, or outraged private individuals...
Marc Rich
Marc Rich
Marc Rich is an international commodities trader and entrepreneur. He is best known for founding the commodities company Glencore. He was indicted in the United States on federal charges of illegally making oil deals with Iran during the late 1970s-early 1980s Iran hostage crisis and tax evasion...
. Most recently, George W. Bush's
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
commutation of the prison term of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby
Lewis Libby
I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby is a former adviser to Vice President Dick Cheney, later disbarred and convicted of a felony....
was controversial.
The Justice Department recommends anyone requesting a pardon must wait five years after conviction or release prior to receiving a pardon. A presidential pardon may be granted at any time, however, and as when Ford pardoned Nixon, the pardoned person need not yet have been convicted or even formally charged with a crime. Clemency may also be granted without the filing of a formal request and even if the intended recipient has no desire to be pardoned. In the overwhelming majority of cases, however, the Pardon Attorney will consider only petitions from persons who have completed their sentences and, in addition, have demonstrated their ability to lead a responsible and productive life for a significant period after conviction or release from confinement.
It appears that a pardon can be rejected, and must be affirmatively accepted to be officially recognized by the courts. Acceptance also carries with it an admission of guilt. However, the federal courts have yet to make it clear how this logic applies to persons who are deceased (such as Henry Ossian Flipper
Henry Ossian Flipper
Henry Ossian Flipper was an American soldier and though born into slavery in the American South, was the first African American to graduate from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1877 at the age of 21 and earn a commission as a 2nd Lieutenant in the US Army.Following Flipper's...
- who was pardoned by Bill Clinton), those who are relieved from penalties as a result of general amnesties and those whose punishments are relieved via a commutation of sentence (which cannot be rejected in any sense of the language.)
While a presidential pardon will restore various rights lost as a result of the pardoned offense and should lessen to some extent the stigma arising from a conviction, it will not erase or expunge the record of that conviction. Therefore, even if a person is granted a pardon, they must still disclose their conviction on any form where such information is required, although they may also disclose the fact that they received a pardon. In addition, most civil disabilities attendant upon a federal felony conviction, such as loss of the right to vote and hold state public office, are imposed by state rather than federal law, and also may be removed by state action. Because the federal pardon process is exacting and may be more time-consuming than analogous state procedures, pardon recipients may wish to consult with the appropriate authorities in the state of their residence regarding the procedures for restoring their state civil rights.
A symbolic use of the presidential pardon is the National Thanksgiving Turkey Presentation
National Thanksgiving Turkey Presentation
National Thanksgiving Turkey Presentation is a ceremony that takes place at the White House every year shortly before Thanksgiving. The President of the United States is presented with a live domestic turkey, usually of the Broad Breasted White variety. Generally the National Turkey Federation and...
each Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving (United States)
Thanksgiving, or Thanksgiving Day, is a holiday celebrated in the United States on the fourth Thursday in November. It has officially been an annual tradition since 1863, when, during the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national day of thanksgiving to be celebrated on Thursday,...
, in which a domestic turkey is pardoned from being slaughtered for Thanksgiving dinner
Thanksgiving dinner
The centerpiece of contemporary Thanksgiving in the United States and Canada is a large meal, generally centered around a large roasted turkey. The majority of the dishes in the...
and allowed to live out its life on a farm.
State law
The pardon power of the President extends only to offenses cognizable under federal lawFederal law
Federal law is the body of law created by the federal government of a country. A federal government is formed when a group of political units, such as states or provinces join together in a federation, surrendering their individual sovereignty and many powers to the central government while...
. However, the governors
Governor (United States)
In the United States, the title governor refers to the chief executive of each state or insular territory, not directly subordinate to the federal authorities, but the political and ceremonial head of the state.-Role and powers:...
of most of the 50 states
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
have the power to grant pardons or reprieves for offenses under state criminal law. In other states, that power is committed to an appointed agency or board, or to a board and the governor in some hybrid arrangement (in some states the agency is merged with that of the parole board
Parole Board
A parole board is a panel of people who decide whether an offender should be released from prison on parole after serving at least a minimum portion of their sentence as prescribed by the sentencing judge. Parole boards are used in many jurisdictions, including the United Kingdom and the United...
, as in the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board
Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board
The Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board is the parole board of the state of Oklahoma. The Board was created by an amendment to the Oklahoma Constitution in 1944...
). On at least two occasions, state governors — George Ryan
George Ryan
George Homer Ryan, Sr. was the 39th Governor of the U.S. state of Illinois from 1999 until 2003. He is a member of the Republican Party. Ryan became nationally known when in 2000 he imposed a moratorium on executions and "raised the national debate on capital punishment"...
of Illinois and Toney Anaya
Toney Anaya
Toney Anaya is a U.S. Democratic politician who was born in Moriarty, New Mexico. He went to undergraduate school at Georgetown University and graduated with a law degree from American University's Washington College of Law in 1967...
of New Mexico — have commuted all death sentences in their respective states prior to leaving office.
Related concepts
These terms differ subtly from country-to-country, but generally:- AmnestyAmnestyAmnesty is a legislative or executive act by which a state restores those who may have been guilty of an offense against it to the positions of innocent people, without changing the laws defining the offense. It includes more than pardon, in as much as it obliterates all legal remembrance of the...
: 'Forgetting' the crime, e.g. if a car thief witnesses a murder, he will often be granted amnesty for his crime in order to allow him to testify against the murderer, or after a civil war a mass amnesty may be granted to absolve all participants of guilt and 'move on'. Weapon amnesties are often granted so that people can hand in weapons to the police without any legal questions being asked as to where they obtained them/why they had them/etc. - Commutation: Substituting the penalty for a crime with the penalty for another, whilst still remaining guilty of the original crime (e.g., in the USA, someone who is guilty of murder may have their sentence commuted to life imprisonment rather than death)
- Remission: Complete or partial cancellation of the penalty, whilst still being considered guilty of said crime (i.e., reduced penalty).
- Reprieve: Temporary postponement of a punishment, usually so that the accused can mount an appeal (especially if he or she has been sentenced to death)
- Clemency: Catch-all term for all of the above, or just referring to amnesty and pardons.
Controversy
Among those who see some legitimate use for the power to pardon in some cases, there are those who see it as being susceptible to abuse if applied inconsistently, selectively, arbitrarily, or without strict, publicly accessible guidelines. Others believe that the pardon power should be used frequently as a means of infusing mercy into the justice system.The principle of the rule of law
Rule of law
The rule of law, sometimes called supremacy of law, is a legal maxim that says that governmental decisions should be made by applying known principles or laws with minimal discretion in their application...
is intended to be a safeguard against such arbitrary governance. The rule of law, in its most basic form, is the principle that no one is above the law. Thomas Paine
Thomas Paine
Thomas "Tom" Paine was an English author, pamphleteer, radical, inventor, intellectual, revolutionary, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States...
stated in his pamphlet Common Sense
Common Sense (pamphlet)
Common Sense is a pamphlet written by Thomas Paine. It was first published anonymously on January 10, 1776, during the American Revolution. Common Sense, signed "Written by an Englishman", became an immediate success. In relation to the population of the Colonies at that time, it had the largest...
(1776): "For as in absolute governments the king is law, so in free countries the law ought to be king; and there ought to be no other."
Some critics, such as ethicist Jacob Appel
Jacob M. Appel
Jacob M. Appel is an American author, bioethicist and social critic. He is best known for his short stories, his work as a playwright, and his writing in the fields of reproductive ethics, organ donation, neuroethics and euthanasia....
, argue that the pardon power is not used nearly widely enough. According to Appel, "It often seems that the principal purpose of these rare reprieves, much like the pardoning of a Thanksgiving Day turkey
National Thanksgiving Turkey Presentation
National Thanksgiving Turkey Presentation is a ceremony that takes place at the White House every year shortly before Thanksgiving. The President of the United States is presented with a live domestic turkey, usually of the Broad Breasted White variety. Generally the National Turkey Federation and...
, is to make the pardoning politicians appear generous and affable to the electorate."
The history of this debate reaches at least as far back as Plato
Plato
Plato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the...
, and evidence of it is found in many cultures (see Overview of the Rule of Law).
External links
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