The "Presidential Pardon" in YN?

[Drongonia]

A federal pardon in the United States is the action of the President of the United States that completely sets aside the punishment for a federal crime. The authority to take such action is granted to the president by Article II, Section 2, Clause 1 of the U.S. Constitution.

In many other countries, their Presidents, Prime Ministers, Sultans, Kings or Queens may pardon someone of a crime. Is this the case in YN? If so, what are the details?

In Drongonia, a Prime Ministerial Pardon may be issued to any born Citizen of Drongonia by the Prime Minister for any crime. With this, the crime is also stricken from the individual's record.

[The Union of British North America]

The monarchical equivalent is the exercise of the prerogative of mercy. Here is an excerpt from the BNA Act 1867:

"The power or respiting, reprieving, and pardoning Prisoners convicted of general crimes, and of commuting and remitting of sentences in whole or in part, which belongs of right to the Crown, shall be administered by the Governor of each Province in Council, subject to any instructions he may, from time to time, receive from the General Government, and subject to any provisions that may be made in this behalf by the General Assembly."

The Grand Council gets to set laws regarding provincial exercise of mercy on general convicts, and the general cabinet gets to decide on who and how to pardon them.

This is with respect to violations of general law. This odd arrangement of provincial implementation subject to general instruction for mercy on general criminals was done to respect provincial interests and autonomy (as provinces would be closer to enforcing everyday law, order, and justice) and also have a permeating effect of the Crown and the general government through out the Union. As a custom Provincial Governors follow the instructions of the PG and the Grand Council when instructed, but provincial heads of government have openly chaffed and challenged general instructions, leaving those provincial ceremonial figureheads between a rock and a hard place.

The PG may also order an inquiry to investigate miscarriages of justice at the general level (more power to the PG on this as this would mean general police errors or corruption or general court errors or corruption), on the advice of the All-Union Attorney-General. In fact the All-Union Attorney-General is the chief general government point of contact for the provinces on these matters.

The All-Union Minister of Defense advises on these matters in regards to military justice, where the general government can instruct on exercises of mercy to provincial governors for those convicted of military crimes, no matter if they were general forces or federalized provincial forces.

Provincial governors also have similar powers of clemency for their own province, according to the provincial charter and gubernatorial instructions received from the Crown. Provincial governors exercising the prerogative of mercy in their own jurisdiction is handled without formal input from the general government (unless it becomes a cause celebre and there is public and political pressure to commute).

[Xanthal]

There's no such thing as an executive pardon for federal crimes, though some of the lower jurisdictions have them.

[Toin]

The President wields the power to pardon criminals. The power can theoretically be used against any crime on any level of government, but usually is not used for crimes against the state and has never been used below the state/territorial level. The power could also be used on foreigners, but has only been used twice in our 172 years of existence. The state governors also hold this power, but only applies to the state level. Territorial governors do not typically use this power, and neither do mayors. On these levels, the power only applies to limited, lower-level crimes.

[Radiatia]

The President of the Radiatian Federation does have the power to pardon federal criminals. State Premiers have similar powers on a state level.

[Auzkhia]

The Emperor as federal president can pardon federal crimes, though he cannot pardon state level crimes, that may vary from state to state.

Executive pardons exist, they vary by jurisdiction.

[Aikoland]

The Sovereign has the full authority to issue pardons or amnesties against an individual or individuals for any crime committed.

[Whitemore]

snipped.

[Indian Empire]

The Prime Minister is not allowed to pardon someone convicted of a criminal act in Indian Empire.

[Gandoor]

The Prime Minister of Gandoor has the authority to fully pardon any crime committed by an individual within the Democratic Republic. However, it is fairly rare for pardons to be issued by them, since the establishment of the modern Democratic Republic in 1904, Gandoorese Prime Ministers have only issued a total of 107 pardons.

[Neo Prutenia]

Clemency laws and related legal matters are exclusively handled by the judiciary. While no single person regardless of authority or other legal powers granted may "pardon" a crime, or exercise any other form of legal or official arbitrariness, the courts might show clemency in some specific cases. The Parliament may also request the courts to show clemency, but the Prut Judiciary is completely and notoriously independent from the Prut Legislature and Executive. The Prut Meritocracy very much ascribes to and espouses the concept of Rechtsstaat and take court verdicts rather seriously and consistently. Only a court of higher instance can "pardon" someone, e.g. the supreme court overrules any realm or local court in case of unconstitutional verdicts.

Technically the Parliament can vote in certain very specific circumstances on such matters, but it has to defer to the courts in regard to constitutionality of such events. The closest to a "pardon" would be a "temporary suspension" in cases of conscription or similar, e.g. a "criminal" may be conscripted and during the conscription time the sentence would be suspended. Customarily time conscripted is deducted from the sentence, if such is approved by the courts.

[La Xingan Sports Association]

The leader can do whatever he wants, and he is very kind and just, so he indeed may pardon anyone.

Edit: In La xinga. Didn't realize I was on a puppet.

[Thermodolia]

The President of Thermodolia has the Constitutional ability to pardon and commute people who are convicted of Federal/National crimes. Several provinces also allow their chief executive to pardon people of crimes committed in those provinces.

[Mobius and the Biscay]

"The King of the Confederation is vested with the power to grant pardons in an individual capacity." - Article 17 of the Mobian Constitution

[Free Republic of Hong Kong]

The Prime Minister is not authorized to made pardons until the approval of the Supreme Court. Article 7, Constitution

[Frei Saarland]

The president lacks the ability to pardon anyone convicted of a crime in Saarland, though the assembly can with a majority vote. The president can also get arrested and fined for crimes they commit.

[Vambetign]

The pardon is not a concept recognized by Federal law. In cases where it is suspected that justice has not been properly served, an appeal or mistrial must be filed.

[Diarcesia]

Monarchical pardons are only granted to high-level criminals. Even then, the decision is not final until the person has served a certain portion of their sentence.

The pardon power is not unlimited. It can only be used for a limited time and for a very high crime. It is intended as a deterrent and not a release valve.

To grant a pardon, the Monarch, in writing, certifies that the following requirements are met.

1. He or she has full confidence in the inability of the individual to complete the sentence as set forth in the law.
2. He or she has full knowledge of the nature and seriousness of the offense.
3. He or she has taken affirmative steps to try to mitigate the consequences of the offense.

[A m e n r i a]

Imperial Pardons are issued by the Heavenly Emperor. He has the authority to pardon any living, sapient creature, regardless of species or nationality. Not only is their punishment forgiven, but any and all records and memories of their crime(s) are deleted. The latter applies to the whole nation, and foreigners who knew about their crimes will retain such memories. Nobody has received an Imperial Pardon since the nation was founded.

[Estados Vaticanos]

The King only issues pardon to capital punishment, that is, his sentence is death and there are several cases, since the king forgives with the condition that the person must be exiled to an island we have, San Pedro Island, with autonomy and away from women and children since these people are rapists or murderers, the only penalty that is not forgiven is the attempted murder or murder of a member of the royal family or the king and they are immediately sentenced to beheading

[Hopal]

The Prime Minister cannot intervene in any criminal cases. But the Parliament can vote to retry the case. Any Supreme Court Justice can do the same which would make the case immediately be before it.

[Kashimura]

The highest power available to overturn any sentencing or punishment in Kashimura and the Yomese Empire would be a Royal Decree from the crown itself: the Empress, directly above the royal family. Though, getting her to do so is not as simple as accosting her on the street. Her Unholy Majesty is a busy woman who deals in judicial matters in her office all day and trusts in her courts to make the correct calls. To get her attention, you would have to make a national spectacle of yourself and/or put in all the hours and paperwork to appeal all the way to her office. If, by petition or appeal or what have you, you manage to get her attention, bring her to court, and make your case, she may decide to rule in your favor. Beyond this, there is only the extranational power of the gods that you can pray to, who will then personally ask her to pardon you, but this is not a common nor oft successful tactic.

[Luziyca]

Under the Rwizikuran constitution, the Mambo of Rwizikuru still has the power to pardon any criminal under subsection c of the first section of the first article of the first chapter of the constitution, as it says that:

• §1c The Mambo of Rwizikuru still has the power to pardon any criminal, excluding those convicted of heinous crimes, or of corruption.

Heinous crimes are crimes which are basically the worst of the worst crimes, while corruption is mostly because political corruption was endemic (and unfortunately still is, although it is being cracked down) when the GIFA insisted on a constitution to crack down on Rwizikuran corruption.

[Pomeron]

The President of Pomeron (who, unlike the US president, is a non-executive president) has the power to grant pardons but they are rare and almost always issued on advice of the Cabinet. Furthermore, unlike other countries, whilst a presidential pardon cannot be overturned by the legislature or the judiciary, a successor president can revoke or nullify any pardon passed by a predecessor president (due to the doctrine of "legal continuity"). However, as of the time of writing, this has never happened.

Pardons tend to be issued to those who have been wrongfully convicted and had those convictions overturned or, especially in the past, those convicted of crimes under colonial rule. For example, the very first presidential pardon was granted to Curtis Farren, a pro-independence campaigner who was charged with, and found guilty of, sedition. He had already completed his sentence by the time Pomeron came a republic in 1975 but he was nevertheless pardoned.

As mentioned, they are rare. The last presidential pardon was issued in 2013 to Andre Welder who had been wrongly convicted of murder.

[Victorious Decepticons]

Both pardons and appeals are handled in the same process, so we tend to think of all successful attempts by busted persons to avoid execution as "successful appeals."

Also, note that the only time the government comes after someone for a criminal offense is if it involves treason of some sort. While the definition of "treason" covers more things than it does in most other nations, it still only refers to a relatively narrow band of activities which threaten the government, culture, or nation. The penalty for any form of treason is execution. We don't do jails.

That said:

Someone who has had a death squad sent after him can appeal to Leader Megatron for clemency rather than either fighting to the death or allowing himself to be taken to the foundry for meltdown. This is their ONLY realistic chance to avoid being killed by the death squad. We do not do multiple layers of appeals, and they do not get to keep begging Megatron over and over again for the same case, either.

When someone yells out to the incoming death squad that he "appeals to Megatron" and surrenders himself to the squad's custody, the lousy traitor is immediately brought before Megatron himself, in person. Then, he can try to talk Megatron out of giving him the death sentence. If he is guilty, it is legal for him to try to sweeten the deal by offering huge amounts of cash, products, and/or services - and if this is accepted, the price will be high enough to seriously put the hurt on the guilty party. However, the person typically must also be able to offer something else to the Empire in general, too - something that cannot otherwise be obtained by seizure if he is executed, such as the ability to invent highly useful things (preferably of a military nature) or reverse-engineer enemy technology.

If the person isn't guilty, he must convince Megatron of that fact. He will be allowed to rebut whatever evidence that Domestic Intelligence (DomIntel) submits against him, and enter his own evidence of innocence. Notably, while we don't have a written doctrine, it is basically "guilty until proven innocent" when DomIntel has made an accusation against someone. It's exceedingly rare for DomIntel to be wrong. However, the appellant won't be summarily ignored by Megatron, and will get his chance to try to prove his innocence. If he does prove it, great woe will befall the DomIntel agents who proclaimed him guilty, as explained in more detail in the final paragraph.

Notably, we have several crimes that are under the umbrella of "treason," but they vary in severity and type. A true traitor, which is to say someone who has actively and intentionally been working against the Nation, Leader Megatron, or the Decepticon culture, will never get pardoned. However, there are lesser forms where a pardon is possible depending on the circumstances and on what the guilty person can do for the Empire in order to make up for his transgression.

Clemency can be considered a pardon in the cases where the party was indeed guilty. In the extremely rare case of Domestic Intelligence having made a mistake when assigning guilt, then it is simply a successful appeal.

In either case, if Megatron grants clemency, the person is freed and can go on living his life without further trouble from the government about the act in question. However, he will be watched closely for an indeterminate time afterward to make sure he keeps his nose clean.

Importantly, if it comes out that Domestic Intelligence (DomIntel) did indeed make a mistake in assigning guilt (and therefore, in signing out a death order), or if agents are found to have intentionally railroaded someone, the responsible DomIntel agents will almost always be executed for "malfeasance that could reasonably be expected to increase the chance of revolution" or even outright "fomenting rebellion." DomIntel's mandate is to root out and prevent rebellion, sedition, and related activities - and as most of us know, kill-happy government agents create the opposite effect. Therefore, it is high treason for agents to wrongly attempt to get someone executed.