Study Finds Racial Disparity in Presidential Pardons

By Jeralyn, Section Inmates and Prisons
Posted on Mon Dec 05, 2011 at 09:45:27 PM EST
Tags: pardons (all tags)

Share This: Digg!

A new study by Pro Publica finds whites are four times more likely to receive a presidential pardon than minorities.

ProPublica's review examined what happened after President George W. Bush decided at the beginning of his first term to rely almost entirely on the recommendations made by career lawyers in the Office of the Pardon Attorney.

The office was given wide latitude to apply subjective standards, including judgments about the "attitude" and the marital and financial stability of applicants. No two pardon cases match up perfectly, but records reveal repeated instances in which white applicants won pardons with transgressions on their records similar to those of blacks and other minorities who were denied.

The methodology is explained here.

< Rod Blagojevich Sentencing Tuesday | Tuesday Morning Open Thread >

Legal

Nothing on this site should be construed as legal advice. TalkLeft does not give legal advice.

TalkLeft is not responsible for and often disagrees with material posted in the comments section. Read at your own risk.

Study Finds Racial Disparity in Presidential Pardons | 20 comments (20 topical)

Readers Must Login or Create an Account to Comment

SITE VIOLATOR (none / 0) (#2)
by oculus on Tue Dec 06, 2011 at 12:02:10 AM EST

Selection of variables (none / 0) (#3)
by Abdul Abulbul Amir on Tue Dec 06, 2011 at 07:20:25 AM EST

The linked article describes a selected subset of variables were used to come to the conclusion. It is impossible to tell from the article if this is really a racial issue or an artifact of cherry picking the variables.

For example (none / 0) (#4)
by Abdul Abulbul Amir on Tue Dec 06, 2011 at 07:24:51 AM EST

The selected variables appear not to include violent vs nonviolent crimes.

Perhaps if you feel that nonviolent offenders are less likely to politically embarrass the pardoner, that may be an indication of your racism.


The seleected variables DO include (5.00 / 1) (#9)
by ruffian on Tue Dec 06, 2011 at 09:51:54 AM EST

types of crime. The racial differences appear regardless of the type of crime.


That said, there was only 1 (none / 0) (#10)
by ruffian on Tue Dec 06, 2011 at 09:59:36 AM EST

violent offender pardoned, and very few considered- maybe 4, I can't remember. I can't draw a conclusion based on such a small sample.


Lumped categories (none / 0) (#13)
by Abdul Abulbul Amir on Tue Dec 06, 2011 at 10:26:39 AM EST

A punch in the nose is a violent crime. So is an ax murder. When you have a category large enough to include both, the category is fairly meaningless.


Your hypotheticals are far removed (5.00 / 2) (#14)
by Peter G on Tue Dec 06, 2011 at 10:45:51 AM EST

from the reality of federal criminal convictions, which is what the study is looking at: Presidential clemency, limited to federal crimes. Lots of drug convictions, interstate frauds, federal tax cases, postal offenses, violation of federal firearms regulations, etc. From what I read, the study seems to have been very carefully conducted, with damning results. And not really surprising for a process conducted in secrecy and with subjective criteria.


: Carefully conducted (none / 0) (#18)
by Abdul Abulbul Amir on Tue Dec 06, 2011 at 02:43:06 PM EST

And not really surprising for a process conducted in secrecy and with subjective criteria.
How can you tell it was carefully conducted as it was conducted with subjective criteria. The pot is calling the kettle black.

What ? (none / 0) (#6)
by ScottW714 on Tue Dec 06, 2011 at 08:42:15 AM EST

Are you suggesting they cherry picked variables to make it appear racial ? Good one, ya there's absolutely no bias towards black people in America, especially the criminal justice system.

So they need to make it up because ____ .


Perhaps (none / 0) (#7)
by Abdul Abulbul Amir on Tue Dec 06, 2011 at 08:54:20 AM EST

We don't have any way to tell. Although a story about G. W. Bush's use of career people had to have some implication of bad outcome in it, or there would be no point in running the story at all.

This may be just setting the stage for the political types to have more control in the Obama administration. The pardon to Rich generated quite the bundle of cash to the connected as I recall.

As you "recall" - heh (none / 0) (#11)
by Yman on Tue Dec 06, 2011 at 10:00:27 AM EST

The pardon to Rich generated quite the bundle of cash to the connected as I recall.

Heh.


: Yeah, Libby probably made bank (none / 0) (#12)
by observed on Tue Dec 06, 2011 at 10:16:32 AM EST

I am suggesting (none / 0) (#8)
by Abdul Abulbul Amir on Tue Dec 06, 2011 at 09:04:24 AM EST

that ProPublica knows what sells to its readership. That should not be too hard to comprehend. I missed the part on what their criteria was for including or excluding variables.

For example standard test scores show that public school students in Wisconsin on average do better than those in Texas. However, the average white Texas student does better than the average Wisconsin student, and the same is true for black students and Hispanic students.

If Only You Held Your Own... (5.00 / 1) (#15)
by ScottW714 on Tue Dec 06, 2011 at 10:52:55 AM EST

...'source links' to this level of scrutiny.

Your conclusion is they cherry picked variables to make... GWB or republicans, look bad, which in turn will increase readership ? Got it.

No offense, but this study seems pointless, they proved the obvious. Who is surprised, you apparently, but then again you aren't their target demographic. I highly doubt this revelation is increasing readership as you are suggesting.


: whether they proved the obvious (none / 0) (#16)
by Abdul Abulbul Amir on Tue Dec 06, 2011 at 12:47:57 PM EST

or told you what you wanted to wanted to believe is still open to question.

Racial disparity... (none / 0) (#5)
by kdog on Tue Dec 06, 2011 at 08:29:52 AM EST

in arrests, prosecutions, sentences, and pardons. The Jim Crow School of Criminal Justice, and we're living it.

I am frustrated by the source articles, (none / 0) (#17)
by sarcastic unnamed one on Tue Dec 06, 2011 at 01:40:44 PM EST

where exactly is the racism occurring? At what level during the process? Who is doing it?

This is not a challenge to the article.

I read both parts of the lengthy article and iirc both the Office of the Pardon Attorney and the President are purposely not given any racial data.

I presume the applications are made directly to the OPA so there is no possibility of someone "sifting" of the applications by race before they are presented to the OPA.

I do suppose one could make at least some assumptions of race based merely on the names of the applicants.

Is that where the racism is occurring?

Natural experiment (none / 0) (#19)
by diogenes on Tue Dec 06, 2011 at 06:10:49 PM EST

Presumably one could apply the same criteria to President Obama's presidential pardons to see if there is an ostensible racial bias or not. If President Obama and Attorney General Holder pardon in the same pattern as Bush, then maybe race isn't the issue.

Natural experiment (5.00 / 0) (#20)
by Edger on Tue Dec 06, 2011 at 06:36:58 PM EST

Presumably one could read the ProPublica article before "commenting".

Bush followed the recommendations of the pardons office in nearly every case, the aides said. The results, spread among hundreds of cases over eight years, heavily favored whites. President Obama -- who has pardoned 22 people, two of them minorities -- has continued the practice of relying on the pardons office.

: Yes (none / 0) (#21)
by lilburro on Wed Dec 07, 2011 at 10:47:31 AM EST

and just because Obama and Holder, who are black, continue the pattern, does not make it less racist.