It's in the Constitution, you silly non-American. Specifically Article II, Section 2, and it traces its roots back to England to what's known as the “prerogative of mercy.” It first appeared during the reign of King Ine of Wessex in the seventh century.
So basically, england fucked something else up, yet again. Bunch of wankers.
Nice, I wasn't aware of that. So I did some checking.
Apparently it's fairly rare:
"In 2001, BBC News reported that only six UK prisoners were granted special remission in an average year.[11]"
Here's a few examples of the times it's been used this millennium:
"In 2001 two inmates at HMP Prescoed, South Wales, were released 28 days early, under the prerogative of mercy, as a reward for saving the life of the manager of the prison farm when he was attacked and gored by a captive wild boar.[11]
In 2013 a posthumous free pardon was awarded to Alan Turing under the prerogative of mercy.[9] Turing, an important World War II codebreaker, had been convicted in 1952 of gross indecency for a consensual homosexual relationship with an adult.[17]
In 2020, the royal prerogative of mercy was used to reduce the minimum tariff that must be served before Steven Gallant could be considered for release on parole. Gallant, who was serving life imprisonment for murder, was granted this reduction in sentence "in recognition of his exceptionally brave actions at Fishmongers' Hall, which helped save people's lives despite the tremendous risk to his own" while confronting terrorist Usman Khan during the 2019 London Bridge attack."
Source:
Royal prerogative of mercy - Wikipedia
So... generally it's used to give a reduced sentence to convicts for acts of heroism, or posthumous pardons to those who served their country. Maybe half a dozen times per year.
Biden's pardoned 8,000 according to the graph someone posted?
Yeah that's still retarded.
www.breitbart.com
www.thegatewaypundit.com
www.justice.gov
www.newsweek.com
