Bush Pardons Eight People
President Bush pardoned eight people today.
Perhaps someone can explain this to me, but one pardon was for a guy sentenced to three years probation in 1959, one was for a guy given one year probation in 1992, and one for a guy given 18 months probation in 1995. Clearly there is an explanation for how and why pardons would be issued to people who supposedly have already served the time, but I can't think of a satisfying excuse. Generally, I think of the Hollywood-esque pardon, saving the guy from the death penalty . . . not pardoning a guy who should have finished off his probation 43 years ago.
Since I have an affinity for statistics, here are some select clemency statistics for presidents, given in reverse chronological order:
- George W Bush: 39 (so far)
- Bill Clinton: 456
- George H. W. Bush: 77
- Ronald Reagan: 406
- Jimmy Carter: 566
- Gerald Ford: 409
- Richard Nixon: 926
- Lyndon B. Johnson: 1187
- John F. Kennedy: 575
- Dwight D. Eisenhower: 1157
- Harry S. Truman: 2044
- Franklin D. Roosevelt: 3687
- Woodrow Wilson: 2480
- Abraham Lincoln: 343
- Zachary Taylor: 38
- Thomas Jefferson: 119
- John Adams: 21
- George Washington: 16
This entry was posted
on Friday, March 4th, 2005 at 21:28 by Novac and is filed under All, Politics.
You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.
Related posts: