Podgor [Georgia State]: 80% of Recent Bush Pardons Were Convicted of White Collar Offenses

Commentary

Podgor [Georgia State]: 80% of Recent Bush Pardons Were Convicted of White Collar Offenses

December 23, 2004 09:54:00 am

Edited by: Bernard Hibbitts | JURIST Staff

Ellen Podgor, Georgia State University College of Law:

"Other bloggers, like Doug Berman's Sentencing Blog (which includes comments of Margy Love, former pardon attorney for DOJ and now in private practice), Orin Kerr writing on the Volokh Conspiracy Blog, and the Crime and Federalism Blog have been commenting on whether President Bush is being stingy or not in his use of the pardon power. There is, however, another aspect regarding these pardons that warrants mention.

In our Nov. 19th blog entry we noted how 5 of the 6 pardons given by Bush in November 2004 were white collar offenders. Here again we are seeing the same pattern. CNN reports that the latest four pardons involve an "embezzlement by a bank employee," a "misapplication of bank fund by an employee," "possession of counterfeit obligations," and "theft from interstate shipment."

Although the definition of white collar crime is sometimes a term that is open for discussion, especially when the crime involves something like RICO, which can be a white collar offense in some instances and more a street crime in other contexts, I'm categorizing 3 of these 4 recent pardons as white collar. Clearly "embezzlement by a bank employee" and "misapplication of bank fund by an employee" fit the white collar category. "Possession of counterfeit obligations" also tends to fall in the white collar crime category. The last one, "theft from interstate shipment" could go either way, perhaps depending on the facts. I will give the benefit of the doubt on this last one to it being in the non-white collar category and claim 8/10 of the November/December pardons as white collar. (admittedly not an accurate statistical study being conducted here – so I would say the margin of error is likely to be 10%).

Some will claim that having 80% of pardons as white collar offenses is a proper percentage, as we are dealing with non-violent crimes here. Others may, however, note that there seems to be a lack of consistency in the types of pardons being granted by the President (high percentage of white collar offenders) with an aim of increased penalties in sentencing guidelines for white collar offenders. Just maybe, President Bush is giving a perfect reason for the need to rethink sentencing guidelines with respect to white collar offenses. But I guess, others out there will claim that I am comparing apples and oranges, as sentences have nothing to do with pardons. Your choice, I have my opinion." [December 23, 2004; White Collar Crime Prof Blog has the post]

Opinions expressed in JURIST Commentary are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of JURIST's editors, staff, donors or the University of Pittsburgh.

Martin Luther King Jr. wrote his Letter from Birmingham Jail

On April 16, 1963, an incarcerated Martin Luther King, Jr. (arrested for demonstrating in defiance of a court order) wrote his Letter from Birmingham Jail in response to a published statement by eight fellow clergymen from Alabama.

Part of the letter read: We have waited for more than 340 years for our constitutional and God-given rights. The nations of Asia and Africa are moving with jetlike speed toward gaining political independence, but we stiff creep at horse-and-buggy pace toward gaining a cup of coffee at a lunch counter. Perhaps it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging dark of segregation to say, "Wait." But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate-filled policemen curse, kick and even kill your black brothers and sisters; when you see the vast majority of your twenty million Negro brothers smothering in an airtight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society; when you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six-year-old daughter why she can't go to the public amusement park that has just been advertised on television, and see tears welling up in her eyes when she is told that Funtown is closed to colored children, and see ominous clouds of inferiority beginning to form in her little mental sky, and see her beginning to distort her personality by developing an unconscious bitterness toward white people; when you have to concoct an answer for a five-year-old son who is asking: "Daddy, why do white people treat colored people so mean?"; when you take a cross-county drive and find it necessary to sleep night after night in the uncomfortable corners of your automobile because no motel will accept you; when you are humiliated day in and day out by nagging signs reading "white" and "colored"; when your first name becomes "nigger," your middle name becomes "boy" (however old you are) and your last name becomes "John," and your wife and mother are never given the respected title "Mrs."; when you are harried by day and haunted by night by the fact that you are a Negro, living constantly at tiptoe stance, never quite knowing what to expect next, and are plagued with inner fears and outer resentments; when you are forever fighting a degenerating sense of "nobodiness" then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait. There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over, and men are no longer willing to be plunged into the abyss of despair. I hope, sirs, you can understand our legitimate and unavoidable impatience. Read the full text of the Letter.