White criminals four times more likely to receive presidential pardon

By Eric W. Dolan
Tuesday, December 6, 2011 0:04 EDT
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ProPublica’s Dafna Linzer appeared Monday night on MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show to discuss her findings regarding racial bias in presidential pardons.

According to her report, white criminals were four times more likely to receive a pardon than minorities over the last decade.

“Forgiveness is really what a pardon is about, and it is only going to one segment of society,” Linzer said. “Only white applicants are receiving this presidential forgiveness.”

She said officials had no explanation for the racial disparity, and didn’t challenge the statistical analysis.

Linzer also explained that pardon applicants who had support from a Member of Congress were much more likely to receive a pardon, and that in many cases Members of Congress supported pardon applicants who donated money to them.

Watch video, courtesy of MSNBC, below:

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