so let me get this straight-
the outgoing president can fully pardon ANY person convicted of any offense?
clinton pardons his drug dealing brother (who admitted he did it and then testified against other drug dealers) while other drug dealers rot in michigan prisons for life without the possibility of parole?
i can understand a pardon for people who are still incarcerated and who have serious questions about their actual guilt-
but to pardon people who were convicted of a crime, who even admit to their guilt and are out of jail and leading normal lives (rostenkowsky) seems to me to be incredibly unfair to others who have served their time,changed and and are leading productive lives but don’t have these kind of connections-
not to mention innocent people serving time for crimes they didnt commit-
when did the US become a monarchy and not a country of laws?
IIRC the president can only pardon federal offenders, not someone convicted of a state or local offense. Federal judges are appointed for life, so the Founding Fathers wanted an elected offical to have the power to say “You fucked up.” Of course, you also get presidents who use it to pardon their partners-in-crime, as with Dan Rostonkowsky. Overall, it’s better that presidents have the power than that they don’t.
“Pardon,” Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2000
http://encarta.msn.com © 1997-2000 Microsoft Corporation. http://encarta.msn.com/find/Concise.asp?ti=003B7000
As you can see from the cite above, most governors have the power to pardon people as well.
It doesn’t have to be an outgoing president/governor, they can do it at any time. However, IIRC, it traditionally happens at Xmas time and when leaving office.
(ie: the pres always pardons the official White House turkey every year)
thanks for the replies
but i guess i should have asked WHY do these convicted individuals get pardons at all?
why do certain people get a second chance why the rest have to live with the consequences of their actions?
why was this process put in place in the first place?
like i stated in the OP i can understand people who may have been wrongfully convicted but why do people WHO BROKE THE LAW and even admit their guilt get this preferential treatment?
in my opinion, clinton’s pardoning of his brother is a slap in the face to all people fighting this so called drug war, and its a slap in the face to all law abiding citizens who obey the law and are good citizens-
so WHY do presidents and governors have the power to pardon people who actually comitted crimes???
It seems a lot like you want this thread in Great Debates.
For General Questions purposes, governors and presidents have pardon power because the state and federal constitutions give them the power. The powers are in the constitutions because the drafters of those constitutions wanted a check on the judiciary. The check on executive abuse of this power lies in the power of the electorate to toss from office potential abusers.
As to the decision-making process, that is up to each executive, again mindful of the potential wrath of the legislative branch and the electorate.
As with much in the US Constitution, it was inherited from English Law- the right of Kings to confer a Royal Pardon.
I don’t know for sure, but I suspect that it was included in the Constitution to make it clear that ONLY the President could exercise this power without cause.