A pardon is a legal forgiveness of a crime granted by a high-ranking official, such as a president or king. It does not absolve guilt and can be granted before or after a conviction. Pardons have been controversial, with examples including President Ford’s pardon of Nixon and President Clinton’s controversial choices. Pardons are different from commutations or deferments, and accepting a pardon is an admission of guilt.
A pardon is a legal pardon granted to a person who has been convicted of a crime. Only a high-ranking official, such as a president, king, or other head of state, has the power to grant pardons. Forgiving someone does not mean that the individual is not guilty of the crime. It is usually understood that the person has repaid the debt to the company or otherwise contributed in such a way as to replace any wrongdoing. It’s a dramatic gesture, often applied to high-profile cases and sometimes used as a plot device in legal dramas and films.
Historically, pardons were traditionally granted by kings and other monarchs. According to the Bible and other ancient texts such as the Torah, the Jewish prophet Joseph was pardoned and released from prison by the Egyptian pharaoh. Numerous other examples appear in the histories of nations around the world. Article Two of the United States Constitution grants pardon powers to the President of the United States. After civil wars, heads of state sometimes offer pardons to ex-combatants to hasten the restoration of social order. After the American Civil War, for example, Presidents Andrew Johnson and Ulysses S. Grant pardoned those fighting on the side of the Confederacy.
A pardon is different from a deferment or commutation, which temporarily or permanently reduces the sentence for a crime. They are all forms of clemency, which do not absolve the convict of guilt. Exoneration and amnesty remove guilt, either through re-examination of the facts or through the intervention of a head of state; these aren’t technically pardons, but the effect is often identical. Pardons may be granted before a person has been charged with a crime or at any time thereafter, including after the person’s death. Accepting pardon is in fact an admission of guilt. For this reason, some individuals have refused pardons to maintain their claims to innocence. In the United States, state governors can pardon individuals for state crimes, but not for federal crimes.
A US presidential pardon has often been controversial. In 1974, President Gerald Ford pardoned Richard Nixon for any crimes he may have committed while in office. This hampered legal proceedings against the disgraced former president, although many of Nixon’s associates went to prison. In 2001, President Bill Clinton issued 140 pardons on his last day in office. His choice of criminals has provoked controversy, including wealthy tax evader Marc Rich while ignoring others, such as Native American activist Leonard Peltier.
According to Christian tradition, the Roman governor Pontius Pilate had the opportunity to pardon Jesus Christ, but was instead forced to pardon a criminal. In 2003, the governor of New York posthumously pardoned influential comedian Lenny Bruce of a 1964 obscenity conviction. In 2010, the governor of Florida similarly pardoned rock star Jim Morrison of the Doors of a morals charge in 1969, decades after Morrison’s death. In fiction and crime films of the 20th century, it has become a cliché for a governor to pardon a wrongfully convicted prisoner who is about to be executed, usually at the last possible moment.
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