6d ago

No, a pardon does not make the crime legal

I've seen a lot of people on this site make comments that terrorism is now legal in the Untied States or asking if it's now legal for them to storm the capitol and other such nonsense.

No, pardoning someone does not change the law. A pardon just means that individual will not be punished for that specific crime. It doesn't mean that individual is allowed to commit further crimes or even the same one again. It doesn't mean the crime is no longer illegal. It doesn't mean future offenders are guaranteed a pardon. All it means is that individual is forgiven for those specific actions by law.

If you forgive someone for lying to you, that doesn't mean that for the rest of your life they and everyone else has permission to lie to you.

4 comments

It actually does the opposite, pardoning someone means that you're confirming they committed the crime.
You can't be pardoned for something you didn't do. Which is why some people have actually refused pardons, because they were innocent and didn't feel they should be pardoned because it inferred guilt.
- You can't be pardoned for something you didn't do.
  Sure you can.
  Even ignoring stuff like preemptive pardons, a pardon relinquishes you from the Justice System's punishment. Conviction doesn't mean you did it.. So there exists the potential for a pardon to be issued for someone that was wrongly convicted.
  
  Yes and in some scenarios of what you're talking about the person has declined the pardon because it would legally mean they are guilty of that crime that they were wrongly convicted for. Most people though accept the pardon even if they didn't do it because this battle of semantics means little when you're getting fucked in prison.
  Obviously not everyone convicted of a crime committed that crime, our justice system is nowhere near perfect.
  But legally speaking, if you accept a pardon, you are admitting guilt. You can not be pardoned if you didn't do the crime (in the eyes of the law). If you pardon someone you're essentially forgiving them for their actions.
  How can you forgive someone for something they didn't do? How can you accept forgiveness for something you didn't do? If you didn't do it you wouldn't need forgiveness.
  Also there is debate on if pre-emptive pardons are even a thing. I'd be of the camp that no, they are not a thing. So I will ignore them because they don't exist lol
  How can you be relinquished from punishment from the justice system if you weren't found guilty by the justice system? If you weren't guilty (again in the eyes of the law) then you won't be "punished".
  Also want to be clear. The innocence project is a great organization, and I do appreciate you bringing them up lol