Laws change. People change. New information comes to light. That’s the reason presidents and governors can grant pardons and commutations. According to Kermit Roosevelt, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School, “The pardon was historically a royal prerogative, but it was carried over into American practice to allow for mercy, the correction of miscarriages of justice, or to help society move forward without the divisive spectacle of prosecution and punishment in politically charged cases.”
Clemency is controversial, however, because it involves two conflicting values: justice, the principle that we get what we deserve, and its opposite, mercy, a reprieve from the burden of that debt.
Late last year, Gov. Jared Polis granted some form of clemency to 24 people incarcerated in Colorado. Among them, Robin Farris became eligible for parole eight years early on…
