Essay On Presidential Pardon Power

This paper will briefly cover the world history of the use of the death penalty as well as its current use in the United States of America. The paper will discuss the statistics of how often the death penalty is utilized as a sentence for capital crimes as well as the time a convicted person spends awaiting the death penalty to be imposed. This paper will utilize research from published sources. This paper will also review current death penalty issues are the occurring in our court systems today.

The debate on whether or not the death penalty should be abolished has been ongoing for quite a long period of time. While there are those who believe that the death penalty does not serve its intended purpose, proponents of the same are convinced that the relevance of the same cannot be overstated and hence it should not be abolished. In this text, I examine the arguments for and against the death penalty.

In David M. Oshinsky’s book, Capital Punishment on Trial: Furman v. Georgia and the Death Penalty in Modern America, he discussed the case of Furman v. Georgia. He explores the controversy that capital punishment holds in the United States of America. The death penalty has been in practice for many centuries. For example, “In Massachusetts, where religion had played a key role in settlement, crimes like blasphemy, witchcraft, sodomy, adultery, and incest became capital offenses, through juries sometimes hesitated to convict” (Oshinsky, 2010). For the punishment of death these offenses do not fit the crime. However, capital punishment at this time was rarely criticized. The death penalty demanded many executions including public ones. Many of these were hangings and were public events. After the American Revolution the death penalty began to be questioned. For example, Benjamin Rush stated, “Capital punishments are the offspring of monarchial governments. Kings believe that they possess their crowns by a divine right. They assume the divine power of taking away human life” (Oshinsky, 2010). By the 1840’s there were organized groups opposing the death penalty such as the Society for the Abolition of Capital Punishment. Within the coming years, the support for capital punishment fluctuated. Throughout the book, Oshinsky explores the many cases leading up to the Furman v. Georgia decision.

Once a pardon was approved by His Majesty through the Secretary of the State it couldn't be revoked.6

On September 8, 1974, Gerald Ford pardoned Richard Nixon for all crimes committed while in office. There has been controversy over whether he should have or not. Timothy Noah, former Slate staffer and author of Why Pardoning Nixon Was Wrong, believes he should not have pardoned Nixon. Noah gives many reasons as to why pardoning Nixon was wrong. The main reason is that it set a bad precedent. Ford did not actually know what he was pardoning Nixon for. When you are pardoning somebody, it is probably a good idea to know what you are pardoning him for. Because Nixon was pardoned, we really do not know what would have happened if he even had stood trial. If he did, future presidents would quickly learn that they are not above the law.

In today’s society crimes in the United State are growing each day, and the major aspect of the U.S criminal justice system is the punishment imposed on those who committed crimes in our communities. One method of sentencing criminals was the establishment of the mandatory minimum sentencing. During the early days of the republic, specific sentences were carried out for certain crime and early mandatory sentences the forms of punishment used at the time stretched from ducking stools/cucking stools for disorderly women and dishonest tradesmen in England, Soctland to hanging for convicted murderers. However, in recent years, evidence gathered have shown that the federal mandatory minimum sentencing were not in effect for reaching the goals of the criminal justice system. Chief Justice William Rehnquist has previously stated that “these statutes are “perhaps a good example of the law of unintended consequences. This essay will discuss the history, goals, benefits, and negatives of the American Judicial Systems Mandatory Sentencing.

People have been debating on whether the death penalty is a good or bad thing. The Supreme Court has decided to go into moratorium because of the problems the death penalty had. Moratorium is a legal authorization to debtors to postpone payment. In my report I will discuss and show some examples (Gregg v. Georgia, and Furman v. Georgia) of why the death penalty went into a moratorium in the United States in the years 1972-1976.

The purpose of this paper is to compare and contrast the impeachment trials of President

This power is one of the least limited powers granted to the president under the Constitution. The power of pardoning someone came from the royal English Prerogative of Kings. Charles Pickney decided to propose the option of giving the chief the power to pardon someone on the 29th of May 1787. He did so since neither the New Jersey plan nor the Virginia Plan gave the chief the power to do so. “Alexander Hamilton reflects this in The Federalist No. 74, in which he argues that "humanity and good policy" require that "the benign prerogative of pardoning" was necessary to mitigate the harsh justice of the criminal code. The pardon power would provide for "exceptions in favor of unfortunate guilt.” "The President's Broad Power to Pardon and Commute." The Heritage Foundation. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Aug.

Can we as a nation, strike a balance between the liberty of the individual and the safety of citizens? And in order to strike that balance, should the bill of rights protect those accused of crimes? This contentious issue is one that causes us to truly think about our constitution’s purpose and how it is currently evolving within our country’s judicial system. On the one hand, many believe that because the nations’ crimes being committed are increasing in severity the rights of those accused of crimes should be curtailed. While on the other hand, many are not in favor of curtailing rights because they feel our legal system is designed to be just for all persons. The framers of our

Adam M. Gershowitz, a university lecturer of law at William & Mary Law School, writes upon the concept of clemency, chronicling eight court cases in which the governor of a state, whom holds the power to grant or deny clemency to an individual. Gershowitz outlines these cases using two classifications: 1) the governor & parole board did not provide any reason for the quid pro quo; 2) the governor depended heavily upon various reasons for the qui pro quo, only in which some of the

A pardon is a governmental decision to absolve an individual for a criminal conviction, often times freeing him from all or part of the punishment imposed at sentencing. Pardons are typically granted by the President, or by individual state governors, but may be granted, in certain circumstances, for groups of people. Federal pardons are granted by the president of the United States, and each state's law dictates with whom the power to grant state pardons lies. To explore this concept, consider following the pardon

There is a great deal of issues (there issues got issues) within the criminal justice system that could be talked about. But the one issue that I would like to discuss is the fact that we have a growing problem with wrongful convictions. Yes this maybe the only thing that matters to me right now but there are so many things wrong with this right now that it needs to be discussed.

Moving along, next I want to define presidential pardons. The President has the power to grant pardons as long as it is a federal offense and the case must not be involved with impeachment. In a presidential pardon, the criminal record of offense is not wiped clean. The pardon itself will reinstate various rights but they still have

The practice of the death penalty and capital punishment is a contemporary political issue that is widely debated throughout the United States. It is my opinion that capital punishment should either be discontinued or only reserved for the rarest of the rare case. In this essay, I will attempt to resolve the issue of whether the United States should continue or discontinue the practice of capital punishment by using the natural law theory set forth by Saint Thomas Aquinas and his greatest work, “Summa Theologiae”.