home

Bush the Grinch Pardons Few

By Jeralyn, Section Inmates and Prisons
Posted on Wed Dec 22, 2004 at 09:32:42 AM EST
Tags: (all tags)
Share This: Digg! StumbleUpon del.icio.us reddit reddit

Yesterday we criticized New York Governor George Pataki for his grinch-link approach to pardons. Today, Law Prof Doug Berman of Sentencing Law and Policy and Orin Kerr of Volokh Conspiracy take Bush to task for his meager handouts.

Update: Glenn Reynolds at Instapundit says:

I can understand being gun-shy after the Clinton debacle, but using the pardon power to mitigate injustices in the system is part of the job. Being careful is one thing; shirking is another.

Update: We wrote about Bush's stingy pardon record back in March, 2004 after reading an enlightening LA Weekly article about Bush's grant of a pardon to a wealthy, dying man who just happened to be a top contributor to his campaign and who had been convicted in a $25 million fraud scheme--see also, here and here . From the LA Weekly Article:

The real story here is not who gets pardoned, but who doesn’t. Bush is a notorious hard-a** on crime. He defeated Texas Governor Ann Richards in 1994 by promising to crack down on rising crime in Texas at a time crime was declining. His second campaign used adolescents in one of his new tough-love juvenile prisons as props in his TV spots. He presided over the execution of 152 people in one of the most flawed criminal-justice systems in the nation. And in a Talk magazine interview with Tucker Carlson he mocked Karla Fay Tucker’s pleading for clemency (not a pardon) several days before he signed her death warrant. (“‘Please,’ Bush whimpers, his lips pursed in mock desperation, ‘don’t kill me.’”)

< Jack Newfield: R.I.P. | New Year's Thought: Go Visit a Prison >

  • The Online Magazine with Liberal coverage of crime-related political and injustice news

  • Contribute To TalkLeft


    • Display: Sort:
    Bush the Grinch Pardons Few | 0 comments ( topical)