Pardons and Amnesties as Policy Instruments in Contemporary France

Abstract

All legal systems have clemency measures. These include statutes of limitation, legal restoration of rights, pardons, and amnesties. Pardons and amnesties, once considered exceptional in contemporary France, have become routinized policy instruments aimed at reducing prison overcrowding. In the past, amnesties were used as an instrument of national reconciliation after political crises; they are now a regular feature of presidential elections, aimed at ordinary crimes. Pardons, formerly conceived as discretionary decisions by the head of state, are now extended annually to entire categories of offenders. Thousands of inmates benefit from early release, whereas others never serve their sentences. There is no widespread political or media controversy. Reasons include the subordinate place of courts in French constitutional tradition, the dominant principle of individualization of punishment, widespread political consensus on the evils of imprisonment, and the benefit many people receive from clemency measures, especially for parking offenses. Nevertheless, clemency increasingly tends to be restrictive, with new categories of offenses excluded, for reasons of political consistency or because a specific crime has received media attention.