Washington, December 05: White prisoners in the United States have been hugely favored over minorities in receiving presidential pardons over the past decade, a report says.
A ProPublica examination has revealed that white criminals have been nearly four times more successful than minorities in receiving presidential pardons, The Washington Post reported on Saturday.
ProPublica’s report examined cases after former President George W. Bush decided at the beginning of his first term to rely almost entirely on the recommendations made by career lawyers in the Office of the Pardon Attorney.
All requests for presidential pardon are directed to the Pardon Attorney for review, investigation, and preparation of the Department’s recommendation to the president, for the final dispositions of each application.
Bush pardoned 189 prisoners during his two terms as president, which 179 of pardoned prisoners were white out and only seven of the pardoned applicants were black and the rest were Hispanic, Asian and Native American.
Current President of the US Barack Obama meanwhile, has pardoned 22 prisoners with only two of them being from minority races.
Under the US Constitution, the President has the power to forgive prisoners with federal criminal offenses.
President’s clemency may take several forms, including pardon, commutation of sentence, remission of fine or restitution, or reprieve.
The review of applications for pardons is conducted almost entirely in secret, with the government releasing scant information about those it rejects.
——-Agencies