"Scooter" Libby

IdleRich

IdleRich
"Is it uncommon for the head of state to have the power of pardon?"
I have to admit that I don't know but off the top of my head I would guess that in most western countries if such a law is extant it's often as a vestige of an old law that is not in use now. A bit like how the new Prime Minister still has to ask the Queen for permission to form a new government but she's not really going to refuse.
Good question anyway, I'll try and find out.
 

vimothy

yurp
Begging his Pardon - Gene Healy

As Alexander Hamilton noted in Federalist No. 74, the pardon power is a necessary corrective to the severity of the criminal justice system, without which "justice would wear a countenance too sanguinary and cruel." The pardon power is there to do justice in individual cases when strict application of the laws would thwart it. Today, given the increased severity and scope of federal criminal law, we should expect broader use of the pardon to ease injustice and draw attention to aspects of the system that cry out for reform.

Unfortunately for those making the case for more pardons, Americans tend to remember first the scandals: President Richard Nixon's pardon of Teamsters chief Jimmy Hoffa, President Gerald Ford's pardon of Nixon, President George H. W. Bush's pardon of several Iran-Contra figures, and President Clinton's pardon of financier Marc Rich, whose ex-wife had conveniently pledged nearly a half-million dollars to the Clinton library.

But executive clemency also has a proud history. Upon taking presidential office, Thomas Jefferson pardoned and freed political dissenters who had been convicted under the Sedition Act, deeming that act a "nullity as absolute and palpable as if Congress had ordered us to fall down and worship a golden image."

President Warren Harding, no stranger to scandal himself, wielded the pardon to free Socialist presidential candidate Eugene Debs. Debs had been jailed during President Woodrow Wilson's crusade against opponents of World War I, but Harding freed him and other war protesters on Christmas Day 1921. "I want him to eat his Christmas dinner with his wife," Harding said.

Even some of Clinton's late-hour pardons had a benevolent aspect. For instance, Clinton pardoned Kemba Smith, a first-time offender who, at age 19, had been sentenced to 24 years in federal prison for cooperating with her drug-dealing boyfriend, even though the prosecutor admitted that Smith had never used or sold drugs.
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
Yeah, BBC says

"A historic feature of the UK constitution, the Royal Prerogative gives the Crown (the monarch) special powers, including the power to declare war, to make treaties, to pardon criminals, and to dissolve Parliament. Today the role of the monarch in such matters is largely ceremonial."
Which is kind of what I thought.

Loads more about pardons here though

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Pardon

Seems that UK Royal Pardon was mainly used (in recent times) to commute death sentences given in Hong Kong. It has also been in the news recently of course with regard to posthumous pardons of soldiers who deserted.
 
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