Presidential Pardons

Dafna Linzer and Jennifer LaFleur, ProPublica (co-published with The Washington Post)

An analysis of presidential pardon recommendations made by the Justice Department during George W. Bush’s administration shows that whites were nearly four times as likely as minorities to succeed; applicants with the support of a member of Congress were three times as likely to receive a pardon. These findings prompted the Justice Department to launch a review and ignited a debate about why pardons are underused, how to eliminate bias and how best to reshape the entire system.

View the story