Clean Record Illinois - Expungement, Seal, Pardon, Clemency
  • HOME
  • PRACTICE AREAS
  • ATTORNEY PROFILE
  • WHERE WE PRACTICE
  • FAQ
  • BLOG
  • CONTACT US

Presidential Pardons: An Effective Tool for Policy Change

3/25/2013

0 Comments

 
Last week’s Boston Globe featured a good op-ed by Leon Neyfakh about the philosophy behind presidential pardons and a history of their use. The article was prompted by the White House’s recent announcement that President Obama had issued pardons to 17 ex-offenders. This brings the total number of pardons Obama has granted to 39. Neyfakh, like many in academic and legal circles, feels this number is far too low. He says:  “At a moment when the incarceration rate in the United States is near an all-time high, and the experience of living and working with a felony conviction is growing ever more difficult, it’s worth asking whether the president ought to see the pardon power not just as an option but as a duty.”

Some historical pardons Neyfakh points out are:

· 1800: Thomas Jefferson pardoned individuals convicted under the Alien and Sedition Act, which he considered unconstitutional

· 1919: Woodrow Wilson pardoned 500 people convicted under liquor laws, to signal his opposition to Prohibition

· 1960s: John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson reduced the sentences of more than 200 drug offenders convicted under mandatory minimum sentences in the 1956 Narcotics and Control Act

In each of these cases, the president used his pardon power to send a clear policy message that a law was unjust. Each of the laws above was later repealed. Neyfakh comments that in his second term “President Obama could use [pardons] in a similarly principled way, highlighting whole categories of individuals whose lives have been ruined by policies he sees as unjust or unduly harsh—injecting urgency into, say, the national debate over mass incarceration or the disproportionate impact of drug laws on minorities.”

On the state level, we here in Illinois saw the pardon used in such a way not too long ago. In 2003, Governor George Ryan commuted the death sentences of everyone on or waiting to be sent to death row in Illinois. The blanket act affected 167 individuals, who were issued life sentences instead. Ryan saw it important to act to avoid any possibility for a mistaken execution. (13 wrongly convicted death row inmates had recently been exonerated.)  Obama was an Illinois State Senator during this time and is no doubt familiar with these pardons. Only time will tell if Obama chooses to use his pardon power in a similar way before he leaves office.

0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Picture
    We provide criminal defense legal services in Illinois, focusing on the expungement and sealing of criminal records. 

    Archives

    December 2020
    December 2019
    July 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    August 2018
    May 2018
    February 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012

    Categories

    All
    Arrest
    Arrested
    Background Check
    Battery
    Cannabis
    Chicago
    Commutation
    Conviction
    Criminal Record
    Delinquent
    Drugs
    Dui
    Election
    Eligibility
    Employment
    Executive Clemency
    Expunge
    Expungement
    Felon
    Felony
    Governor
    Illinois
    Juvenile
    Misdemeanor
    Pardon
    Pritzker
    Quinn
    Rauner
    Rehabilitation
    Seal
    Sealing
    Theft

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.