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+--- Thread: Presidential pardons (/showthread.php?tid=66933)
Presidential pardons - voodoopenguin - 11-25-2008
I have just read that they are absolute and cannot be overruled. I don't think we have such a scheme over here (please tell me if I'm wrong) and to me it appears very strange that one person, albeit the president, can pardon anyone they like. It seems to make a mockery of the independent legal system which is supposedly non partisan and the practice is open to abuse.
I have now realised just how much freedom you give your president whereas over here the Prime Minister is respected but is still subject to the laws of the land and the wishes of his party. Abuses can still happen but they can be stopped and dealt with.
Re: Presidential pardons - Racer X - 11-25-2008
a state's governor can as well, as long as the prisoner is in a state penn, and not a federal one.
Re: Presidential pardons - BigGuynRusty - 11-25-2008
Racer X wrote:Yeppers, even if they are on Death Row for mowing down a whole family with a car!
a state's governor can as well, as long as the prisoner is in a state penn, and not a federal one.
Thanks Gov. Tony Anaya!
BGnR
Re: Presidential pardons - vision63 - 11-25-2008
Especially since we now know that killing death row inmates brings their victims back "from" the dead.
Re: Presidential pardons - Racer X - 11-25-2008
It guarantees that they won't re-offend. And since they have proven that they have no regard for human life, likely on multiple ocassions, what's the point of warehousing them?
Re: Presidential pardons - mikeylikesit - 11-25-2008
... and the occasional execution of someone who was never guilty of the crime charged is just so much collateral damage.
Re: Presidential pardons - Lux Interior - 11-25-2008
And we just end up warehousing them anyway.
I guess we could just have the bailiff take them out back & shoot them, but then you have that whole "oops! he was innocent!" problem.
Re: Presidential pardons - Gutenberg - 11-25-2008
The power to pardon is tradition, and the tradition comes from the UK, at least in the US and Canada. Clemency and pardon used to be a royal prerogative, but these days the Queen may only pardon on the advice of the Home Secretary or the First Minister of Scotland:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pardon#United_Kingdom
Most of the laws on which the US is founded come from British common law, which makes sense since the US used to be a Crown colony and most of its inhabitants were British in origin.
Re: Presidential pardons - OWC Jamie - 11-25-2008
You used to have that power bestowed upon the monarchy .
It is rare but your current criminal review system has a system for remedy of miscarriages of justice.
Most of the rest of the civilized world has a system to remedy miscarriages of justice, too.
They all could use a more speedy sytem of check for imperfection beyond political pardoning.
Some would exempt political pardoning from the miscarriage of justice system. Usually opposing political pundits. :-)
Re: Presidential pardons - voodoopenguin - 11-25-2008
Miscarriage of justice reparation is one thing but pardoning and setting someone free, who was properly convicted and sentenced, by a single person where the power is absolute and cannot be over-ruled does not sound like sense. Back in history our monarch had that power but to have it in the modern USA, which prides itself on the upholding of democracy and accountability, seems strange to me.
The royal pardon can only be used in consultation with those with more expertise. Likewise theoretically the monarch can over rule Parliament however since our Civil War of over 350 years ago that right has been tempered with the understanding that if it was used arbitrarily then Parliament would act swiftly to remove all rights. It could be the beginning of the end of monarchy. In other words, you have the right Mrs.Windsor but if you use it we will take it away from you.