The title of this post is the headline of this new
New York Times essay authored by Rachel Barkow and Mark Osler. As with everything authored by these two professors, this piece should be read in full. Here are excerpts:
The fundamental problem with having the Justice Department run clemency is that prosecutors aren’t good at it. Under the department’s regulations, the Office of the Pardon Attorney must give “considerable weight” to the opinions of local prosecutors — the very people who sought the sentence in the first place.
These prosecutors typically don’t keep up with the people they prosecuted to learn what they’ve been doing while incarcerated or what their post-prison re-entry plans look like. Their data point is the conviction itself, so their analysis of the case is frozen in time. No matter the intent from on high, it is hard to get around this obstacle.