Pardon Resources

Articles & Literature

• The Pardoning Power — A World Survey by Leslie Sebba
• The Effect of a Pardon by Henry Weihofen
• Presidential Pardon Research Shows Racial Imbalance by Todd K. Mohink
• The Pardon: Politics or Mercy? by Anne McMillan
• Pardons: Justice, Mercy, and the Public Interest by Kathleen Dean Moore
• Study Reveals Potential for Racial Bias in Presidential Pardon Process
• Presidential Pardon Research Shows Racial Imbalance
• The Future of Forgiveness: Minnesota’s New Clemency Law Reforms

Journals

• (Paywall site) Barber, C., Brauben, J. (2025). Presidential Pardons Escalate as Modern Political Weapon. The Wall Street Journal.
  
• Barkow, R.E. (2015). Clemency and Presidential Administration of Criminal Law. New York University Law Review, 90(3), 1051-1115.
  
• Bierschbach, R.A., & Bibas, S. (2016). What’s Wrong with Sentencing Equity? Virginia Law Review, 92(7), 1447-1498.
  
• Chad Flanders, Pardons and the Theory of the “Second-Best”, 65 Fla. L. Rev. 1559 (2013) Available at: Pardons and the Theory of the “Second-Best” by Chad Flanders
  
• Ghandnoosh, N., & Barry, C. (2023). One in Five: Racial Disparity in Imprisonment — Causes and Remedies. The Sentencing Project.
  
• Hutchinson, D.L. (2018). Who Locked Us Up? Examining the Social Meaning of Black Punitiveness. Yale Law Journal, 127(8), 2388-2446.
  
• Osler, Mark William, Review: Mass Pardons in America by Graham G. Dodds (2022). Criminal Law and Criminal Justice Books (Rutgers)., U of St, Thomas (Minnesota) Legal Studies Research Paper No 22-11,
  
• Rappaport, Aaron, An Unappreciated Constraint on the President’s Pardon Power (2020). Connecticut Law Review. 444.
  
• Wheelock, Darren, A Jury of One’s “Peers”: Felon Jury Exclusion and Racial Inequality in Georgia Courts (2011). Social and Cultural Sciences Faculty Research and Publications. 47.
  
• Alschuler, Albert, The Corruption of the Pardon Power, Public Law and Legal Theory Working Paper Series, No. 796 (2022).
  
• JaneAnne Murray, Judicial Restoration of Rights as an Auxiliary to the Pardon Power, 33:5 328 (2021)
  

Resources

• Collateral Consequences Resource Center
• Civil Disabilities Of Convicted Felons A State by State Survey
• Office of the Pardon Attorney
• Office of the Pardon Attorney — Frequently Asked Questions
• What is a Pardon?
• 50-State Comparison: Pardon Policy and Practice
• ACLU — Clemency and Pardons

Videos

• How Trump has Upended the Presidential Pardon — The New York Times
• Second Changes Through Clemency: An Introduction to the Office of the Pardon Attorney
• The Power of the Presidential Pardon — [POLICYBrief]
• How Do You Get a Presidential Pardon — Ron’s Office Hours, NPR
• President Trump is on a Pardoning Spree — CNN