User:Randy Randalman/sandbox

Pardons and Commutations Under President Trump
As of this writing, President Trump has granted four commutations of sentences and seven pardons, one of which being a posthumous pardon. President Trump had broken with tradition when he first granted a full unconditional pardon to Joe Arpaio early into his first term as President. Trump also later granted a full unconditional, posthumous pardon to John "Jack" Arthur, who was sentenced in 1920.

It is not uncommon for Presidents to deny petitions for clemency. President Trump has denied 82 requests for pardons and 98 requests for commutations as of this writing. Compared to other Presidents,Trump has issued the least amount of denials of petitions in the first 12 months of office since George H. W. Bush except for Barack Obama. Although President Obama issued zero denials his first year in office, he would end his second term with the greatest number of petition denials across all Presidents.

Posthumous Pardons
Posthumous pardons are usually rare because it is generally Department of Justice policy to not accept requests for non living persons. This is due to the limited resources and personnel at the Department of Justice, and cases involving living persons take precedent over those who are deceased. The same procedure and reasoning is applied to clemency applications for federal misdemeanors, giving precedent to cases involving federal felony convictions. This structure is designed to allow the DOJ to devote its time to those who will receive the greatest benefit from Federal clemency. Presidents Clinton, W. Bush, and Trump are the only 3 to have granted posthumous pardons.