How does the president decide who to pardon or commute (is that the right word?) their sentence?

Question

where does he get the people who are eligible for this? why & how are they considered?

Answer 1

People write to the President and ask for a pardon or commution. How he decides is up to him.

If you look at Clintons pardons, for example, of his 396 pardons about 80 went to criminals who produced convincing evidence of innocence after the term for their appeals had expired.

(As a comparison, the first President Bush issued 74 pardons while in office, of which 2/3 were 'evidence of innocence' pardons, and the current President Bush has so far pardoned almost 150 - the number's still going up of course - of which, also, about 2/3 have been on evidence of innocence.)

Most of the rest were either friends or political allies, or big campaign contributors like Marc Rich. The US Pardon Attorney under Clinton said that more "political favor" pardons were issued by Clinton than by all other 20th century presidents combined

Richard

Answer 2

They decide at will, and the decisions are final. They can do it whenever to whomever they pleases without being required to give a reason. Usually campaign contributors "bribe" to get a pardon for a friend, or the person is a friend of the administration or party, and often it is people who were wrongly convicted or who are requesting leniency because they feel their sentence is too harsh.

Answer 3

He decides based on the benefits he will receive and who he will piss off if he doesnt. Its a game of pros vs cons just any other political decision.