In texas, law applies when the government seeks punishment on behalf of society or a victim.

On October 6, 2022, President Biden issued a presidential proclamation that pardons federal convictions for simple marijuana possession offenses. The proclamation applies only to federal convictions, including D.C. Code offenses, and does not apply to convictions under state or local law. Read more here.

President Biden is exploring the use of his clemency power for individuals on home confinement under the CARES Act for non-violent drug offenses. Currently, the expedited screening program is only for those drug offenders on home confinement who have between 18 and 48 months remaining on their sentences. The Bureau of Prisons (BOP) has been asked to notify eligible offenders of the program so that they may file a petition to initiate consideration of clemency by The President. Once the clemency petition and other necessary materials are assembled and evaluated by the Pardon Attorney, the Department of Justice will make its recommendation on the clemency request to The President. Please note that the Department of Justice will continue to consider clemency cases where an offender has a pending motion for compassionate release in any district court if the commutation petition is being considered under the parameters of the expedited screening program. The Office of the Pardon Attorney is unable to provide additional information or clarification about the expedited home confinement screening program, so additional questions should be routed to The White House Office of Public Affairs.

Responsibility for exercising the pardon power vested in the President by Article II, section 2, of the Constitution was shared by the Secretary of State and the Attorney General from 1789-1853. The Attorney General had administrative responsibility for pardon application review, 1853-70, although the Department of State continued to issue pardon warrants until a Presidential order of June 6, 1893, transferred this function to the Department of Justice. Pardon responsibilities were delegated to the Office of the Clerk of Pardons, established in the Office of the Attorney General by an act of March 3, 1865 (13 Stat. 516). The Office of the Clerk of Pardons became a component of the newly created Department of Justice, pursuant to its enabling act, June 22, 1870 (16 Stat. 162). It was superseded by the Office of the Attorney in Charge of Pardons, established in the Department of Justice by an act of March 3, 1891 (26 Stat. 946), and re-designated the Office of the Pardon Attorney in 1894. SEE 204.1.

The regulations contained in 28 CFR §§ 1.1 thru 1.11 are advisory only and for the internal guidance of Department of Justice personnel. They create no enforceable rights in persons applying for executive clemency, nor do they restrict the authority granted to the President under Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution.

We have added links directly to the clemency petitions on the homepage of our website and they allow you to easily fill out the information directly on the form.

We respect the gender, identity, and preferences of our employees, clemency petitioners, and anyone else that we correspond with, so please make us aware of any information that would help us communicate with you more effectively, including preferred pronouns and legal name changes.

We prefer email, but if you don't have access to email, you can send records to us at U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Pardon Attorney, 950 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, DC 20530. All of our mail is now processed through the RFK-Main Justice Building. We do not accept visitors or hand delivered packages to ensure the safety of our staff.

Emailing us at [email protected] is the quickest and easiest way for us to accept your petition or supplemental records for review in conjunction with your case. We are a fully digital office, so mail sent by postal service or Fed Ex is going to take longer for us to process and add to your casefile.

We update the Clemency Lookup Feature once per month, but it could take up to 8 weeks before your case will show up on the lookup feature. In addition to pending cases, as of December 2019 you can also confirm the status of all cases accepted for review since January 1989 at https://www.justice.gov/pardon/search-clemency-case-status-since-1989. Therefore, we will not respond to requests for confirmation of receipt or status updates if your petition was submitted to us within the past 8 weeks because we deem your request premature and the only publicly available information about a pending case is already proactively disclosed through this feature of our website. We will also refrain from providing status updates on cases that you can now use our Clemency Lookup Feature to confirm the status of. Due to longstanding policy, we will not provide any additional information about the status of a pending case, outside of what is available on our website, and we also cannot rush or expedite the President's decision making process.

No. Under well-established procedures, this office will not process a clemency application while litigation concerning the case is pending. Should the inmate’s case be resolved adversely to the inmate and should no other litigation follow, the inmate may submit a new commutation of sentence petition to this Office, through the case manager, along with the standard reports detailed in the Bureau of Prisons Program Statement No. 1330.15, effective August 23, 2001 (28 C.F.R. §§ 571.40 - 571.41).

No - but individuals may obtain a copy of his or her criminal history record directly from the FBI (for a fee) by using the following link: https://www.fbi.gov/services/cjis/identity-history-summary-checks.

Clemency officials conduct a very thorough review in determining a petitioner's worthiness for relief. Accordingly, you should be prepared for a detailed inquiry into your personal and criminal background as well as current activities. If you choose not to respond or refuse to provide requested information and/or documentation that would be helpful in analyzing your clemency request, it is possible that your case will be administratively closed without presidential action.

A request for a motion under 18 USC 4205(g) or 3582(c)(1)(A) (otherwise known as compassionate release) should be submitted to the Warden of the Bureau of Prisons institution that houses the inmate. Compassionate release requests cannot be accepted by the Pardon Attorney because a commutation by the President must be a last resort remedy. Therefore, if an inmate is currently being considered for compassionate release, the Pardon Attorney may close a pending commutation of sentence petition until a decision is made by the court on the request for compassionate release. If so, the inmate may reapply to the Pardon Attorney for clemency once the compassionate release motion and any appeal have concluded. The Pardon Attorney will not close a case due to a pending compassionate release motion if the Office is reviewing the case under President Biden's expedited home confinement clemency screening program.

All executive clemency related correspondence is handled by the Department of Justice’s Office of the Pardon Attorney (Pardon Attorney). Correspondence sent directly to the White House or the DOJ leadership concerning the President’s executive clemency power is forwarded to PARDON for an official response.

It would be highly unusual, but there have been a few cases where people who had not been charged with a crime were pardoned, including President Gerald Ford's pardon of President Richard Nixon after Watergate, President Jimmy Carter's pardon of Vietnam draft dodgers and President George H.W. Bush's pardon of Caspar Weinberger. President Donald J. Trump pardoned Joseph Arpaio and others after they were charged and convicted, but prior to sentencing. See Pardons Granted by President Donald Trump (justice.gov)

The Office of the Pardon Attorney is unable to confirm or deny clemency grants to members of a class of persons granted pardons by proclamation, such as President Carter’s proclamation granting clemency to certain Vietnam era offenders, and persons granted clemency after action by President Ford’s Presidential Clemency Board because those petitions and decisions were not processed through the Office of the Pardon Attorney. The Department does not maintain statistics on those categories of grants and has no documentation to support them.

That is a question best answered by the Department's Office of Legal Counsel. You may contact them directly at www.justice.gov/olc/contact-olc.

Does the President have authority to grant clemency for a state conviction?

No. The President’s clemency power is conferred by Article II, Section 2, Clause 1 of the Constitution of the United States, which provides: “The President . . . shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offenses against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.” Thus, the President’s authority to grant clemency is limited to federal offenses and offenses prosecuted by the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia in the name of the United States in the D.C. Superior Court. An offense that violates a state law is not an offense against the United States. A person who wishes to seek a pardon or a commutation of sentence for a state offense should contact the authorities of the state in which the conviction occurred. Such state authorities are typically the Governor or a state board of pardons and/or paroles, if the state government has created such a board.

In the federal system, commutation of sentence and pardon are different forms of executive clemency, which is a broad term that applies to the President’s constitutional power to exercise leniency toward persons who have committed federal crimes. A commutation of sentence reduces a sentence, either totally or partially, that is then being served, but it does not change the fact of conviction, imply innocence, or remove civil disabilities that apply to the convicted person as a result of the criminal conviction. A commutation may include remission (release) of the financial obligations that are imposed as part of a sentence, such as payment of a fine or restitution. A remission applies only to the part of the financial obligation that has not already been paid. A commutation of sentence has no effect on a person’s immigration status and will not prevent removal or deportation from the United States. To be eligible to apply for commutation of sentence, a person must have reported to prison to begin serving his sentence and may not be challenging his conviction in the courts. A pardon is an expression of the President’s forgiveness and ordinarily is granted in recognition of the applicant’s acceptance of responsibility for the crime and established good conduct for a significant period of time after conviction or completion of sentence. It does not signify innocence. It does, however, remove civil disabilities – e.g., restrictions on the right to vote, hold state or local office, or sit on a jury – imposed because of the conviction for which pardon is sought, and should lessen the stigma arising from the conviction. It may also be helpful in obtaining licenses, bonding, or employment. Under some – but not all – circumstances, a pardon will eliminate the legal basis for removal or deportation from the United States. Pursuant to the Rules Governing Petitions for Executive Clemency, which are available on this website, a person is not eligible to apply for a presidential pardon until a minimum of five years has elapsed since his release from any form of confinement imposed upon him as part of a sentence for his most recent criminal conviction, whether or not that is the conviction for which he is seeking the pardon.

No - You may either (1) move forward with your restitution request and wait until you receive a response from the President regarding restitution to apply for pardon or (2) we can administratively close the restitution request without prejudice and address restitution in the context of your request for a full and unconditional pardon.

Not necessarily. Some, but not all, states have instituted procedures for restoring to their citizens certain basic civil rights, such as the rights to vote, hold office, or sit on a jury, even if the disqualifying felony conviction was incurred in federal court. A person who is considering applying for a presidential pardon solely to restore such rights may wish to contact the appropriate clemency authorities within the state of his residence to ascertain whether such a procedure exists in that state.

Yes. At present, a presidential pardon is the only means by which a person convicted of a federal felony offense may obtain relief from federal firearms disabilities. Under Supreme Court case law interpreting federal firearms laws, a state restoration of civil rights does not remove the federal firearm disability that arises from a federal felony conviction. That relief can only be provided through action under federal law. Although 18 U.S.C. § 925(c) provides that the Attorney General may grant relief from federal firearms disabilities “if it is established to his satisfaction that . . . the applicant will not be likely to act in a manner dangerous to public safety and that the granting of the relief would not be contrary to the public interest,” there currently is no means to obtain relief through this mechanism. Since Fiscal Year 1992, Congress has prohibited the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the agency responsible for processing such requests, from spending any appropriated funds to investigate or act upon applications for such relief. Accordingly, at this time a presidential pardon is the only means by which a person convicted of a federal felony may obtain this relief.

No. Notwithstanding the limited purpose for which such an applicant may desire a pardon, there are no special or truncated procedures for applying for pardon to remove federal firearms disabilities. The applicant will be expected to meet the same high standards of character and reputation generally required of all pardon applicants, which are determined by means of a thorough investigation into an applicant’s background by the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) and his/her activities since the conviction.

No. There is no fee for applying for any form of executive clemency.

No. The executive clemency process is intended to be accessible to ALL eligible applicants, whether or not they are represented by counsel, and is begun by filing the appropriate clemency petition. In fact, most clemency applications are submitted by persons who are not represented by counsel. Application forms are available on this website. If you have questions about the application as you are completing it or helping someone else to complete it, you may contact the Pardon Attorney at [email protected] to ask for clarification, but please be aware that we are unable to provide legal advice. If a pardon applicant submits an application that is incomplete or does not sufficiently answer the questions posed, the Pardon Attorney will contact the applicant through whatever communication mode we were contacted through and explain what additional information is required.

No. Each criminal case has it's own set of unique circumstances, so there is no guidance that we can provide that would help ensure your request is granted by the President. We are also unable to provide legal referral services because that is outside of the scope of our mission.

No. Because executive clemency is a matter reserved by the Constitution to the President alone, recommendations from public and elected officials are in no way binding on the President. Applicants are free to solicit letters in support of their clemency applications from any and all sources, and any such letters will be considered as part of the clemency process. Letters from elected officials do not carry any special significance in the evaluation of the merits of a clemency application by the Pardon Attorney.

The Pardon Attorney does not request or consider information concerning an applicant’s political affiliation in the processing of a clemency application. Similarly, no clemency applicant has any right to have his clemency application decided by a particular President. If a change of presidential administration occurs while a clemency application is pending, the undecided application remains active for consideration by the new President. There is no need to reapply for clemency in these circumstances. A clemency applicant is free, of course, to withdraw his application from consideration at any time and for any reason before the President has made his decision on the matter.

Yes. You may submit a completed pardon petition and any subsequent correspondence to this Office electronically at [email protected]. However, please keep in mind that the pardon applicant must execute the personal oath (located at the end of the pardon application) in the presence of a notary public and must also provide three notarized character affidavits in support of the clemency petition. The Pardon Attorney requires that the pardon applicant submit the original, signed, and notarized paper application form or a true and accurate digital PDF of the same. An applicant may type information into the pardon application form available on this website, but it must then be printed and submitted by regular mail or PDF to our Office email listed above. If there appears to be any discrepancy with the documents submitted, the Pardon Attorney will contact petitioners and/or their attorney for clarification and additional information, but that will slow up the process. Therefore, it is best to ensure your clemency package is complete when you initially submit it for review.

Because the issue of an applicant’s post-conviction rehabilitation is central to the consideration of a pardon request, the pardon application is designed to elicit a broad range of information and records required to allow the President to make an informed judgment of the applicant’s suitability for pardon.

The candor of the applicant is crucial to the pardon process, and the requirement that the application be executed under oath before a notary public is intended to ensure the applicant’s understanding of this fact. The execution of the authorization for release of information form and submission of the three notarized character affidavits are required to assist the necessary investigation into the applicant’s post-conviction conduct and activities. Unless a submitted pardon application meets all of these requirements, the Pardon Attorney will be unable to conduct the appropriate investigation of the applicant’s background. In that event, the Pardon Attorney will not process the clemency request.

No. The executive clemency process is a written process. There is no hearing held by Pardon Attorney on any commutation or pardon application. However, in the processing of a pardon application, a thorough investigation is made of the applicant’s post-conviction life, which may include a background investigation conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. As a general matter, if an applicant wishes to have specific information considered in connection with his clemency request, he should submit that information in writing to the Pardon Attorney. He may do this at any time while the application is pending.

A clemency applicant – or any third party – is free to send any documentation or other written information he believes has a bearing on the applicant’s suitability for clemency so that it may be considered in connection with the application. We recommend that a person desiring to submit a document to the Pardon Attorney send a copy of the record rather than the original document, since the record will be made part of the applicant’s executive clemency file. Because of the nature of its case tracking system, the Pardon Attorney cannot make information recorded on digital media part of an applicant’s file. The office therefore does not accept information presented in such formats.

At every stage in the processing of a pardon case, the merit of the petitioner’s application is assessed by considering the standards described in , which is available on this website. These standards include the applicant’s post-conviction conduct, character, and reputation; the seriousness and relative recentness of the offense; the applicant’s acceptance of responsibility, remorse, and atonement; and the applicant’s need for relief. Moreover, official recommendations from knowledgeable officials involved in the case, particularly the United States Attorney for the district of conviction and the sentencing judge, are carefully considered. Finally, as is noted above and indicated in the pardon application itself, the applicant’s candor throughout the pardon process is of great importance in evaluating the merits of the clemency request.

As a general matter, commutation of sentence has long been considered to be an extraordinary remedy that is rarely granted. The merit of a commutation request is evaluated by considering the standards contained in, which is available on this website. Appropriate standards for considering commutation relief traditionally have included such factors as disparity or undue severity of sentence, critical illness or old age, and meritorious service to the government by the applicant that has not been adequately rewarded by other official actions, as well as other equitable factors that may be present in a given case. The seriousness of the offense of conviction, the applicant’s overall criminal record, the nature of the applicant’s adjustment to prison supervision, the length of time the applicant has already served, and the availability of other remedies are also considered in evaluating the merit of an application. Finally, as with a pardon request, the applicant’s candor in the commutation application is an important consideration.

The executive clemency process can be lengthy, and the Pardon Attorney is not able to estimate for any particular applicant when he may expect to receive a decision on his application. The Pardon Attorney reviews each application and conducts the appropriate investigation of the case. In many instances, this process requires the Pardon Attorney to obtain information or comments from other agencies, which in turn may have to obtain records from off-site storage in order to respond to the Pardon Attorney's inquiry. After all relevant information has been received, the Pardon Attorney prepares a proposed recommendation for disposition of the case that is submitted to the Deputy Attorney General, who makes the final determination of the Justice Department’s recommendation to the President. The Deputy Attorney General’s signed recommendation is then transmitted to the White House, and the President acts on each case when he believes it is appropriate to do so. As a matter of long-standing policy, the Pardon Attorney does not disclose to applicants or third parties the stage at which a clemency application is pending at any given time. After the President decides to grant or deny a particular clemency request, the Pardon Attorney notifies the applicant of the decision in writing. Because the written notification is sent to the last address an applicant has provided to the Pardon Attorney, it is important that an applicant notify the Pardon Attorney if his address changes while the application is under consideration.

Yes. Except for situations in which an application must be closed administratively because (1) an applicant withdraws their application from consideration, (2) an applicant repeatedly fails to respond to a request by the Pardon Attorney for required information, (3) an applicant dies before a decision is made on their request, (4) we learn that the applicant is no longer a resident of the United States during the course of our review, (5) an applicant is released from Federal prison during the processing of a commutation petition that seeks only the reduction of his/her prison sentence, or (6) we learn that the applicant has not yet exhausted all legal remedies or has pending litigation, every clemency application submitted to the Pardon Attorney follows the process described above and is decided by the President. Please note that if the Pardon Attorney learns that a motion for compassionate release is pending for an applicant with an open case, the Pardon Attorney may determine that the interests of justice are not served by an administrative closure of the case.

No. Every clemency application submitted to the Pardon Attorney is decided by the President, except in situations in which an application must be closed administratively because (1) an applicant withdraws their application from consideration, (2) an applicant repeatedly fails to respond to a request by the Pardon Attorney for required information, (3) an applicant dies before a decision is made on their request, (4) we learn that the applicant is no longer a resident of the United States during the course of our review, (5) an applicant is released from Federal prison during the processing of a commutation petition that seeks only the reduction of his/her prison sentence, or (6) we learn that the applicant has not yet exhausted all legal remedies or has pending litigation (not including compassionate release motions in which it is determined that the application should remain open in the interests of justice). Accordingly, if the outgoing President does not reach a decision before the end of his elected term, the clemency application will remain open until resolved by a later President. While both the Department of Justice and the President make every effort to resolve clemency applications in a timely manner, there is no guarantee that an application submitted during an administration will be decided by that President. If an applicant has not received a denial notification from the Pardon Attorney, then the applicant may assume that the application remains pending and will extend into the next administration. The status of clemency cases submitted through the Department of Justice since 1989 can always be confirmed on our website at Search Clemency Case Status For Cases Opened Since 1989 | PARDON | Department of Justice.

No. Expungement is a judicial remedy that is rarely granted by the court and cannot be granted within the Department of Justice or by the President. Please also be aware that if you were to be granted a presidential pardon, the pardoned offense would not be removed from your criminal record. Instead, both the federal conviction as well as the pardon would both appear on your record. However, a pardon will facilitate removal of legal disabilities imposed because of the conviction, and should lessen to some extent the stigma arising from the conviction. In addition, a pardon may be helpful in obtaining licenses, bonding, or employment. If you are seeking expungement of a federal offense, please contact the court of conviction. If you are seeking expungement of a state conviction, which the Office of the Pardon Attorney also does not have authority to handle, states have different procedures for “expunging” a conviction or “clearing” the record of a criminal conviction. To pursue relief of a state conviction, you should contact the Governor or state Attorney General in the state in which you were convicted for assistance.

As a general matter, Presidents in recent times have rarely announced their reasons for granting or denying clemency, although the President may choose to do so in a given case. Consistent with long-standing policy, if the President does not issue a public statement concerning his action in a clemency matter, no explanation is provided by the Department of Justice. Moreover, deliberative communications pertaining to agency and presidential decision-making are confidential and not available under existing case law interpreting the Freedom of Information Act and Privacy Act.

Yes. A person whose request for a commutation of sentence is turned down may reapply anytime after one year from the date of the President’s denial of the request. A person whose request for a pardon is denied may reapply anytime after two years from the date of the President’s denial of the request. To reapply for a pardon or commutation, a person must complete and submit a new application form that contains current information in response to all questions. Resubmitting the prior application form that was previously denied is not an acceptable form of reapplication.

Presidential grants are a matter of public record, so immediately after Presidential action, the name of each person granted a pardon or commutation, along with the district they were convicted, year of sentencing, offense, and the date the President granted their request is publicly listed on the Office of the Pardon Attorney website. This information may also be posted on The White House website and included in press releases issued by the Department or The White House. Moreover, in accordance with the ruling by the federal court of the District of Columbia in Lardner v. Department of Justice, 638 F.Supp.2d 14 (D.D.C. 2009), affirmed, Lardner v. United States Department of Justice, No. 09-5337, 2010 WL 4366062 (D.C. Cir. Oct. 28, 2010) (unpublished), the Office of the Pardon Attorney is obliged to release existing lists of the names of persons who have been denied executive clemency by the President to anyone who requests such records pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act. Given the frequency of such requests, the Office of the Pardon Attorney has started to proactively disclose the names of persons who have been denied executive clemency by the President on our website, in accordance with our Freedom of Information Act obligations.

The Office of the Pardon Attorney does not accept pardon petitions from non-residents of the United States because of the difficulty and costs associated with the Federal Bureau of Investigations conducting a thorough background investigation abroad into an applicant's post-conviction life. For your information, we also do not process requests for "pardons" of the orders of immigration officials. You may want to contact the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for assistance regarding your immigration matter. The address for DHS is as follows: U.S. Department of Homeland Security, 500 12th Street, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20024.

No. The Office of the Pardon Attorney does not process requests for commutation (reduction) of sentences from persons convicted of offenses in military courts-martial. Military commutation requests are handled by the military branch that handled the conviction and sentencing.

If you are requesting pardon of a court-martial conviction only, you should submit your completed petition directly to the Secretary of the military department that had original jurisdiction in your case, and listing in your responses to questions 2 through 6 and question 15 of the petition form all pertinent information concerning your court-martial trial and conviction. The addresses for submitting a request for a pardon of a court-martial conviction are as follows: U.S. Army:
Secretary of the Army
Department of the Army
ATTN: OTJAG-CLD
Pentagon
Washington, DC 20310 U.S. Navy/U.S. Marine Corps:
Office of the Judge Advocate General
Criminal Law Division (Code 20)
1254 Charles Morris Street S.E.,
Suite B01
Washington Navy Yard, D.C. 20374 U.S. Air Force:
Secretary of the Air Force
Attention: AFLOA/JAJR
1500 W. Perimeter Road,
Suite 1170
Joint Base Andrews Naval Air Facility, MD 20762 Please be aware that receiving a pardon for a military offense will not change the character of a military discharge. An upgrade or other change to a military discharge may only be accomplished by action of the appropriate military authorities. To apply for a review of a military discharge, you should write to the relevant military branch, at the address listed below: U.S. Army:
Army Review Boards Agency
251 18th Street South
Arlington, Virginia 22202-4508 U.S. Navy/U.S. Marine Corps:
Secretary of the Navy
Naval Council of Personnel Records
702 Kennon Street, SE
Suite 309
Washington Navy Yard, DC 20374-5023 U.S. Air Force:
Air Force Review Boards Agency
SAS/MRBR
550C Street West
Suite 40
Randolph Air Force Base, Texas 78150-4742

The Federal Youth Corrections Act (YCA) was enacted in 1950 in order to provide sentencing alternatives for young offenders. The YCA was repealed in 1984. If an individual sentenced under the YCA was released from imprisonment or discharged from probation prior to the expiration of the maximum period sentenced, the conviction was automatically set aside upon the sentencing court’s issuance of a certificate of set-aside. Unfortunately, the certificate required to set aside the conviction was often not issued accordingly; thus leaving the conviction intact. If you were convicted under the YCA and are in possession of the certificate of set-aside issued by the court, there is, in fact, no conviction to pardon. Our office would, therefore, be unable to process your application, and you may wish to contact the closest division office of the FBI and ask that your criminal history record be properly amended to reflect the lack of conviction. If you believe you were convicted under the YCA, but are not in possession of the certificate of set-aside, then your conviction may still stand and you may submit a pardon application. If we are able to obtain evidence that a certificate of set-aside was, in fact, issued in your case, you will be notified of that fact and your case file will be closed administratively. If we are unable to conclude that a certificate of set-aside was issued in your case, we will process your pardon application fully.

The function of the Office of the Pardon Attorney is limited to investigating federal clemency matters, and does not include any law enforcement duties relating to prisoner safety. You may wish to contact a local law enforcement agency for assistance. Furthermore, the President’s clemency power under the Constitution is limited to federal offenses. Because you have been convicted of a state offense, we cannot be of assistance to you concerning clemency. You must contact the Governor or other state authorities to determine whether any relief is available under state law.

The President’s clemency power under the Constitution is limited to federal offenses. As a matter of policy, the President does not make recommendations or otherwise seek to intervene in state clemency matters. Whether to grant clemency to a state offender is a matter within the sole authority of state officials to decide. Accordingly, the Office of the Pardon attorney is unable to process a clemency petition for a state offense.

The terms and place of an individual’s federal confinement are matters within the authority of the Department of Justice’s Bureau of Prisons (BOP). The Pardon Attorney cannot be of assistance in such matters.

Deportation is not a remedy available through the executive clemency process. Decisions regarding deportation status are within the authority of the Department of Homeland Security. However, to the extent that you are seeking reduction of sentence to advance the date of your deportation, you may apply for commutation (reduction) of sentence if you are not presently challenging your conviction or sentence through appeal or other court proceeding.

It is the general policy of the Department of Justice that requests for posthumous pardons for federal offenses not be processed for adjudication by the Pardon Attorney. The policy is grounded in the belief that the time of the officials involved in the executive clemency process is better spent on the pardon and commutation requests of living persons. Many posthumous pardon requests would likely be based on a claim of manifest injustice, and given that decades have often passed since the event and the historical record would have to be scoured to objectively and comprehensively investigate such applications, it is the Department’s position that the limited resources which are available to process requests for Presidential clemency be carefully allocated. Even more so now that petitions are being submitted in record numbers, the Department’s resources are best dedicated to requests submitted by persons who can truly benefit from a grant of the request. The policy also recognizes that requests for posthumous pardons are less likely to involve issues generally explored in routine pardon investigations (such as the recent, or ongoing, rehabilitative efforts of a defendant), and therefore less likely to benefit from the investigative techniques commonly used in the pardon process. Notwithstanding this policy, the President always retains the plenary power granted to him by the Constitution to pardon or commute sentences, and does so at his sole discretion, guided when he sees fit by the advice of the Pardon Attorney.

If you provide a fully executed and signed copy of a

All media inquiries and interview requests should be routed to the Department’s Office of Public Affairs. The Office of Public Affairs is responsible for ensuring that the public and the media are informed about the Department's activities and the priorities and policies of the Attorney General and the President regarding law enforcement and legal affairs, including the Departments role in the executive clemency process. Please visit their website at https://www.justice.gov/opa/contact-office or call them at (202) 514-2007.

Members of the public who wish to confirm whether an executive clemency case is currently in “pending” status, either for themselves or a third party, may use the Pardon Attorney's clemency Lookup Feature to search by clemency casefile number, BOP register number or by the name of the petitioner.

The Pardon Attorney's clemency Lookup Feature will only show information regarding individuals who have applied through the Department of Justice. If an individual who has not requested clemency through the normal process of submitting a petition to the Pardon Attorney receives clemency from the President, you will not be able to identify them using the Lookup Feature.

No - Requests of temporary leave for an inmate to attend a funeral or visit a dying family member are not handled by the Pardon Attorney or the President. Furlough requests should be submitted by the inmate to the Warden of the federal prison where they are housed. The Warden and the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) staff will make a decision on whether to grant or deny an inmate's furlough request.

Based on the Department's Office of Legal Counsel opinion dated dated August 5, 1974, under the fundamental rule that no one may be a judge in his own case, the President cannot pardon himself. If under the Twenty-Fifth Amendment the President declared that he was temporarily unable to perform the duties of the office, the Vice President would become Acting President and as such could pardon the President. Thereafter the President could either resign or resume the duties of his office. Although as a general matter Congress cannot enact amnesty or pardoning legislation, because to do so would interfere with the pardoning power vested expressly in the President by the Constitution, it could be argued that a congressional pardon granted to the President would not interfere with the President’s pardoning power because that power does not extend to the President himself. See OLC Opinion at op-olc-supp-v001-p0370_0.pdf (justice.gov)

While this theory has never been tested, presidential clemency warrants are deemed as public records of the president's decision. They are proactively disclosed on the Pardon Attorney's website as soon as they are made available to the Department. Therefore, there is no circumstance in which the Department's Office of the Pardon Attorney would knowingly conceal the existence of a clemency grant. To the contrary, we would proactively disclose it as soon as possible as a matter of practice.

On December 21, 2018, the First Step Act (“The Act”) was signed into law. The Act was a bipartisan effort that makes criminal justice reform efforts to reduce the historically severe punishment imposed upon many federal offenders. The Act provides several different avenues of reform, including increasing the training and programming available to federal inmates, expanding prison employment programs, changing the mandatory minimum terms applicable to certain drug offenders, eliminating the three-strike mandatory life penalty for certain drug offenders, and giving certain offenders the ability to petition the court to review their sentence. The Pardon Attorney has received numerous inquiries since the bill’s passage regarding who is eligible for relief and how inmates can obtain relief. If an inmate has questions regarding any prison programming, credit for good conduct, or prison employment opportunities, those questions should be directed to the inmate’s BOP case manager or program manager. If an inmate has questions regarding whether (s)he is eligible to petition the court to review his/her sentence, the inmate should contact either the Federal Defender’s Office or the local bar organization in the jurisdiction in which he was convicted. Contact information for the various Federal Defender’s Offices can be found at https://www.fd.org/.

Which of the following would be considered an element of the Texas criminal justice system?

Which of the following are duties of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice?

Which of the following best describes capital punishment in Texas quizlet?

What refers to the reduction in punishment for an individual convicted of a crime?