Details Emerge On Government Study Of Presidential Pardons

A review triggered by stories published by ProPublica and The Washington Post will test the effect of race on pardon decisions.

The U.S. Department of Justice has issued a request for proposals for its first-ever in-depth study of presidential pardons [1], providing fresh details on what it envisions the review will entail.

The agency said it would undertake the study in response to articles [2] published by ProPublica and The Washington Post in December that found white applicants were nearly four times [3] as likely to be pardoned as minorities. African American applicants fared the worst: Just 7 of 189 people pardoned [4] by President George W. Bush were African American. So far, President Obama has pardoned 22 people, including 2 minorities.

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