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Updated: Presidential Pardons Heavily Favor Whites

"Manafort trial Day 15: Jury meets for third day as Trump-fueled political cacophony grows"

To avoid repeating a scandal like his predecessor’s, George W. Bush gave career lawyers in the Justice Department
far-reaching authority to choose who got presidential pardons. The result: Whites are nearly four times as likely
as minorities to win a pardon, even when the type of crime and severity of sentence are taken into account.

by Dafna Linzer and Jennifer LaFleur Dec. 3, 2011, 11 p.m. EST

[...]

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.

"President Obama takes his constitutional power to grant clemency very seriously," said Matt Lehrich, a White House spokesman. "Race has no place in the evaluation of clemency evaluations, and the White House does not consider or even receive information on the race of applicants."

The president's power to pardon is enshrined in the Constitution. It is an act of forgiveness for a federal crime. It does not wipe away the conviction, but it does restore a person's full rights to vote, possess firearms and serve on federal juries. It allows individuals to obtain licensing and business permits and removes barriers to certain career opportunities and adoptions.

To assess how the pardons office selects candidates for pardons, ProPublica interviewed key officials, obtained access to thousands of pages of internal documents and used statistical tests to measure the effects of race and other factors on the outcome.

From 2001 to 2008, Bush issued decisions in 1,918 pardon cases sent to him by the Justice Department, most involving nonviolent drug or financial crimes. He pardoned 189 people - all but 13 of whom were white. Seven pardons went to blacks, four to Hispanics, one to an Asian and one to a Native American.

https://www.propublica.org/article/shades-of-mercy-presidential-forgiveness-heavily-favors-whites

Update:


Here are all the people Trump has granted clemency to so far

Michelle Mark
Jun. 6, 2018, 5:02 PM

Alice Marie Johnson
DInesh D'Souza
Jack Johnson
Lewis "Scooter" Libby
Kristian Saucier
Sholom Rubashkin
Joe Arpaio

Who could be next?

https://www.businessinsider.com/who-has-trump-pardoned-so-far-arpaio-johnson-scooter-libby-2018-5