Unpardonable by Scott Horton

[Jefferson23]

December 6, 2011

Dafna Linzer and some of her colleagues at ProPublica have published a two-part feature in the Washington Post based on their year-long study of the American presidential-pardons system. The story’s conclusions are depressing, but they will surprise no one who has closely studied the Department of Justice in recent years:

White criminals seeking presidential pardons over the past decade have been nearly four times as likely to succeed as minorities, a ProPublica examination has found. Blacks have had the poorest chance of receiving the president’s ultimate act of mercy, according to an analysis of previously unreleased records and related data.

Figures from the Clinton and Bush Administrations later respond to these findings with the usual amazement at just how this could be. Their reactions may have been sincere, but if so, they were extremely naive.

The ProPublica story is backed by a considerable collection of data and some compelling side-by-side comparisons:

An African American woman from Little Rock, fined $3,000 for underreporting her income in 1989, was denied a pardon; a white woman from the same city who faked multiple tax returns to collect more than $25,000 in refunds got one. A black, first-time drug offender — a Vietnam veteran who got probation in South Carolina for possessing 1.1 grams of crack — was turned down. A white, fourth-time drug offender who did prison time for selling 1,050 grams of methamphetamine was pardoned.

in full: http://www.harpers.org/archive/2011/12/hbc-90008335

[Citizen Worker]

1. I'm shocked, just shocked that racism exists in the US.

:sarcasm:

[DCKit]

2. I can't help but think those white people we're "let out", but "kicked out".

Union organizers.