Executive Clemency During the Coronavirus Pandemic: A Global Analysis of Law and Practice

Abstract

Because of the threat that COVID-19 poses to incarcerated populations, executives around the world have used their clemency powers to commute sentences and grant freedom to prisoners in high-risk categories. Coronavirus pardons may be justified on several theories of punishment and have been exercised alongside bureaucratic forms of legal mercy such as parole and compassionate release. Although executive clemency is residual in most legal systems, the novel coronavirus has reactivated the pardon power in many jurisdictions, overcoming significant legal and procedural barriers, albeit with exclusions for particular crimes and categories of offender. This article relays global trends in executive clemency granted as a result of COVID-19, drawing out relevant lessons for the academic literature on the topic, as well as for policymakers dealing with future pandemics and other emergencies.

Keywords: Clemency, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Executive Clemency, Mercy, Pardon, Punishment, Prerogative of Mercy, Prisons, Sentencing