Carolyn Strange, Discretionary Justice: Pardon and Parole in New York from the Revolution to the Depression

Abstract

At least since Caesare Beccaria’s time, critics have attacked the power of a sovereign or head of state to pardon or reduce the punishment of people convicted of crimes. They charge that clemency diminishes the certainty of punishment and places the ruler outside of the rule of law. Carolyn Strange’s general theme is this quest for certainty in criminal justice and retention of discretionary punishment. Certainty of punishment within the rule of law was a major principle of Enlightenment thou...