A person asks for executive clemency by sending a written petition to the Justice Department’s Office of the Pardon Attorney. The Department investigates, and the Attorney General sends the President a written recommendation. The President decides (28 C.F.R. § 1.6).
For what the word means, and for pardon, commutation, reprieve, and remission, see clemency meaning and the four forms of clemency.
How a petition moves
The Office of the Pardon Attorney describes three stages on its How Clemency Works page:
- The applicant files. Send the completed form. The Office confirms receipt and assigns a case number. You can check the case online and send updates while it is pending.
- The Department investigates. Staff look into the application. For a pardon, that can include an FBI background investigation. In some cases the Office asks the U.S. Attorney and the sentencing judge for comments, then recommends what the President should do.
- The President decides to grant or deny. The Office notifies the applicant and posts a grant on its website.
The rules say the same thing in more detail. When a petition arrives, the Attorney General causes an investigation, using reports from government agencies, including the FBI, and then sends the President a written recommendation to grant or deny (28 C.F.R. § 1.6). The Pardon Attorney, under the Deputy Attorney General, receives the petitions, directs the investigations, and prepares that recommendation (Justice Manual 9-140.110). In cases that appear to have some merit, the Office asks the prosecutor for comments and for the sentencing judge’s views (Justice Manual 9-140.111). In some felony cases with a victim, the rules also call for a reasonable effort to tell the victim that a petition was filed (28 C.F.R. § 1.6).
There is no hearing. The process is written (Office of the Pardon Attorney FAQ). The rules are advisory only. They create no right to clemency, and they do not limit the President (28 C.F.R. § 1.11). The Department generally assumes the conviction was correct, so a petition is a request for mercy, not a new trial (Justice Manual 9-140.111).
The President decides each application the Office receives, except when a case is closed without a decision. The Office lists those closures as a withdrawal, a repeated failure to respond, the applicant’s death, word that the applicant is no longer a U.S. resident, or, for a commutation that asks only to shorten a prison term, release from federal prison while the case is pending (Office of the Pardon Attorney FAQ).
How to ask
The petition is addressed to the President and submitted to the Pardon Attorney, except for a military offense. A military petition goes to the Secretary of the military department that had jurisdiction over the court-martial (28 C.F.R. § 1.1). Forms are on the Office’s Apply for Clemency page. Commutation forms are also available from the wardens of federal penal institutions (same rule). A petition has to relate to a violation of the laws of the United States (28 C.F.R. § 1.4).
Asking for a pardon
If you have a federal conviction and you have finished the sentence, use the pardon-after-completion form (Apply for Clemency). Do not file until at least five years after release from confinement or, if no prison sentence was imposed, until at least five years after the conviction. Generally, do not file while on probation, parole, or supervised release (28 C.F.R. § 1.2). The Department may waive the five-year wait (Justice Manual 9-140.112). The President can also pardon someone who has not been charged or who has not finished the sentence, and the Office reviews appropriate requests of that kind on the same form (Office of the Pardon Attorney FAQ). For the form, see how to apply for a presidential pardon and what the pardon application asks.
For a pardon, the Justice Manual looks at conduct, character, and reputation after the conviction; how serious the offense was and how long ago it happened; acceptance of responsibility, remorse, and atonement; the need for relief; and the views of officials such as the prosecutor and the sentencing judge (Justice Manual 9-140.112).
Asking for a commutation
If a federal court has sentenced you and you are still serving the sentence, use the commutation form (Apply for Clemency). There is no five-year wait. The Department generally does not accept a request until the person has begun serving the sentence, and generally not while a court challenge to the conviction or sentence is pending (Justice Manual 9-140.113). Do not file, including a request for remission of a fine, if a court or an agency could still give relief, unless the circumstances are exceptional (28 C.F.R. § 1.3). For the steps, see how to apply for a commutation of sentence.
The Justice Manual calls commutation an extraordinary remedy. Grounds it has long treated as appropriate include a sentence that is unduly severe or out of line with others, critical illness or old age, and service to the government that was not rewarded another way. Rehabilitation in custody, and facts the court could not foresee at sentencing, can also matter (Justice Manual 9-140.113).
Asking for a reprieve or remission
A reprieve, or remission of a fine, uses the same kind of petition: written, addressed to the President, and sent to the Pardon Attorney (28 C.F.R. § 1.1). A request for remission of a fine follows the commutation rule against filing while other relief is available (28 C.F.R. § 1.3). What each form does is on the clemency meaning page. The Office that receives the petition is described at the Office of the Pardon Attorney.
After you file
Search the Office’s case status page, or read how to check clemency case status. If you have not received a denial notice, the Office says you may assume the petition is still pending, including into the next President’s term (Office of the Pardon Attorney FAQ; Justice Manual 9-140.111). You can mail or email updates, and they are added to the existing file (same FAQ). After a denial, a new pardon petition may be filed 24 months later, and a new commutation petition 12 months later (same FAQ).
Getting help
You do not need a lawyer. The Office says most applicants do not have one, and its staff can clarify the form but cannot give legal advice (Office of the Pardon Attorney FAQ). Criminal Center handles federal clemency petitions. No one can promise that the President will grant clemency.