Pardons Based on Forgiveness?

[RandyWayne]

My question is, what right does that governor have to "forgive" killers on behalf of the victims?


Barbour defends controversial pardons as based on the Christian belief in forgiveness

Former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour said Friday he's "very comfortable" with his decision to grant pardons or other clemency to more than 200 people, including convicted killers, in his last days in office, telling Fox News that Mississippi is predominantly Christian and believes in forgiveness.

Barbour said Friday during his first interviews on the pardons that nearly 190 of the people who got pardons or other reprieves had already been released from prison before his actions. Only 10, he said, have been or will be fully released from prison.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012...#ixzz1jTgaqVe0

[Jermyn Davidson]

I really don't understand the hooplah over this.

Governors and Presidents have the right to grand pardons.


Would we want a society where this could never happen?

[RandyWayne]

I'm not arguing against the right of governors and presidents to do this, just the appropriateness.

And what moral right does a gov have to pardon someone who may have killed your wife or son and say he did it because HE "forgave" them? Don't think that that may not be his call?

[Jermyn Davidson]

Originally Posted by RandyWayne

I'm not arguing against the right of governors and presidents to do this, just the appropriateness.

And what moral right does a gov have to pardon someone who may have killed your wife or son and say he did it because HE "forgave" them? Don't think that that may not be his call?

It's not his call to forgive per se, unless he was the one offended.

It's appropriate for the Governor or President to grant clemency as he/she desires.

[Hoovie]

Not sure they should have the right to pardon those convicted of first degree murder.

[AreYouReady?]

Gov. Haley Barbour is taking a LOT of heat from the people for pardoning 215 people. He says most of them have already been released from prison and he is just wiping their record "clean" so they can vote and hunt.

What the people here are in the uproar about is that they were convicted by juries and he wipes away their convictions.

[RandyWayne]

Originally Posted by AreYouReady?

Gov. Haley Barbour is taking a LOT of heat from the people for pardoning 215 people. He says most of them have already been released from prison and he is just wiping their record "clean" so they can vote and hunt.

What the people here are in the uproar about is that they were convicted by juries and he wipes away their convictions.

My issue is is that if I had a love one murdered by one of these thugs and the gov pardons them because HE forgives them..... To say I would steaming mad would be an understatement. He has ZERO right to forgive them on behalf of someone else. Only Jesus ever had that right.

[Jay]

I have not read the story, although I have heard a bit about it. I have not been happy with much of what I have heard. I do not like the fact that so many convicts are working around the Governors Mansion, nor do I approve of most of this. However, he did claim that his actions were based on recommendations by the clemency board or some such thing.

In my opinion, it is not that he forgave them for the victim's families but rather for society. I do not agree with his pardon. I think that there were perhaps better pardons that he could have used. It will probably turn out about as well as Mike Huckabee's clemency program did in Arkansas.

[AreYouReady?]

I agree and so do the people who lost loved ones from the murders. But, many people wonder the real reason behind all of these pardons. Some reports think it has to do with the state "saving money" and to heck with all the people having to live knowing their loved one's murderer has been pardoned.

Well, in fact Barbour said that the state won't be "burdened" with medical costs.

Of those 26 who are still incarcerated or were at the time they received clemency, 13 are ill and draining the state’s resources for their medical expenses, he said.

“A dialysis patient costs about $190,000 per year,” Barbour said. “All of these costs will no longer fall on the state.”

Those families whose loved ones have died at the hands of murders say the same thing as you. One family says that Barbour's feelings are irrelevant. Rightly so.

Article: Pearl River County Supervisor Anthony Hales, a close friend of the McGills, said the prospect of Kambule’s release has forced Pamela McGill’s living relatives — her father, brother and uncles — to relive the trauma of her murder.

Hales said Barbour’s personal feelings aren’t relevant.

“I guess he would feel ‘comfortable,’ but his comfortability is not what we’re concerned about,” Hales said. “The public and the victims’ families are not ‘comfortable.’ ”

Read more here:
http://www.clarionledger.com/article...news|text|Home

People all over the state are angry over this:
Read people's comments at the end of the article.

http://www.djournal.com/view/full_st...es_left_column

There are 85 comments on this article so far:

http://www.sunherald.com/2012/01/13/...d-chances.html

Even people from Memphis have a lot to say about Barbour's "forgiveness" without a second thought about the families who continue to suffer.

http://www.commercialappeal.com/news...acts-straight/