Pardons and Amnesties as Policy Instruments in Contemporary France (From Crime, Punishment, and Politics in Comparative Perspective, P 551-590, 2007, Michael Tonry, ed. - See NCJ-241880)

• NCJ Number: 241890
• Author(s): Rene Levy
• Date Published: 2007
• Length: 40 pages
• Sale Source: University of Chicago Press
• Publication Format: Book Chapter
• Publication Type: Legislation/Policy Description
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Pardons and amnesties, once considered exceptional in contemporary France, have become routinized policy instruments aimed at reducing prison overcrowding.

Abstract

All legal systems have clemency measures. These include statutes of limitation, legal restoration of rights, pardons, and amnesties. Pardons and amnesties, once considered exceptional in contemporary France, have become routinized policy instruments aimed at reducing prison overcrowding. In the past in France, amnesties were used as an instrument of national reconciliation after political crises; they are now a regular feature of presidential elections, aimed at ordinary crimes. Pardons, formerly conceived as discretionary decisions by the head of state, are not extended annually to entire categories of offenders. Thousands of inmates benefit from early release, whereas others never serve their sentences. There is no widespread political or media controversy. Reasons include the subordinate place of courts in French constitutional tradition, the dominant principle of individualization of punishment, widespread political consensus on the evil of imprisonment, and the benefit many people received from clemency measures, especially for parking offenses. Nevertheless, clemency increasingly tends to be restrictive, with new categories of offenses excluded, for reasons of political consistency or because a specific crime has received media attention. (Published Abstract)