ANSWER:
Why Hamilton Promoted Presidential Pardon Power
Eugene Debs, the Socialist presidential candidate pardoned by President Harding in 1921.
The highest number of pardons in the 20th century were issued by Franklin D. Roosevelt, who in his three-plus terms in office, issued 3,600 pardons and commutations of sentences, the vast majority of which were full pardons. FDR averaged about 880 pardons for each year he was in office – the highest in modern times. The rate then gradually declined, so that by the time of Presidents Nixon and Ford, the rate was about 150 per year. Jimmy Carter, in addition to the Vietnam War amnesty, granted a little over 125 a year. Under Ronald Reagan, the numbers dropped further, to about 50 per year; and under George H.W. Bush, the number of pardons fell even more, to fewer than 20 a year. Bill Clinton increased the rate back to about 50 a year, roughly the same as Reagan. Under George W. Bush, the numbers plummeted again, down to fewer than 25 a year. President Obama changed things little, averaging slightly more than 25 a year – although he issued a record number of commutations of sentences, almost all of which were for drug offenses.
Bottom line: the Constitutional power of presidential pardon, viewed as essential to the administration of justice by the Constitution’s Framers, has all but been ignored by recent presidents, even as the United States continues to display the highest rate of incarceration, and largest number of prisoners, in the world. The total U.S. prison population (state and federal) skyrocketed in the 1980s due to mandatory sentencing laws, and although decreasing slightly over the past ten years, is still about five times greater than it was in 1980. The decrease is largely due to reductions in sentences for drug-related offenses.
The total number of federal inmates today is about 185,000, which is over seven times greater than in 1980, and about 23 times greater than it was 90 years ago – all of which reflects the “federalization” of crime, i.e., the expanding number of offenses defined by Congress and the Justice Department as federal crimes. So, as the number of federal prisoners has gone way up, the number of pardons issued has gone way down. And this despite widespread of exposure of prosecutorial misconduct and abuse by the FBI and the Justice Department over decades.
The Founding Fathers and the Framers – most notably George Washington and Alexander Hamilton – saw the pardon power as essential to mitigate or remedy injustice, but modern Presidents have turned a blind eye to this explicit constitutional provision, because of pragmatism and political cowardice. If President Trump takes steps to reverse this decline, it will be for the good of the nation.
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