A Closer Look: Definition of Presidential Pardon

The president gets a lot of perks in the United States. The president gets to live in the White House, fly around in Air Force One, and has a giant gingerbread house made for him every year, among other things. He also gets to make a lot of fairly important decisions, and pass laws with the approval of the House and Senate. One other thing that the president gets to do is issue something called a Presidential Pardon. This is something that the President of the United States has the opportunity to do, and is also a duty offered to Presidents and/or rulers of many other countries as well. 

When we combine the definition of president with the definition of pardon, we get the definition of presidential pardon: The President gets to "forgive" people from their crimes, or let them escape the rest of their criminal sentences.  In other words, the president can let criminals out of jail and release criminals from their judicial sentences.

To be exact, in the United States, the President has the ability to pardon people only for federal crimes. This means that if someone is found guilty of breaking a federal law- like securities law or tax law- the president can pardon that person. If someone broke a state law, on the other hand, only the governor can pardon the criminal.

Why Do We Have Presidential Pardons?

Article II of the United States Constitution gives the president the power to pardon people for committing crimes. Article II gives the president this power in order to create an opportunity for the president to correct errors made by judges.

People can apply for presidential pardons, and those requests may be accepted or denied by the president. In most cases, the Justice Department suggests that convicted criminals wait at least five years before applying for a Presidential Pardon. The president can also pardon people on his own, even if they didn't request a pardon or don't even want one! These pardons can be made at any time, sometimes even before the criminal has served a single day in jail.

Even if a criminal is pardoned, though, this doesn't mean the criminal is now considered to be innocent of the crime. A pardon just means you don't have to submit to the rest of your punishment. Pardoned criminals still have a crime on their records.

Who Gets Pardoned

A president can pardon a person for any reason. Here is a list of some controversial presidential pardons issued by Presidents from George Washington to George W. Bush.