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The Service Tree lists all services in "branched" groups, starting with the very general and moving to the very specific. Click on the name of any group name to see the sub-groups available within it. Click on a service code to see its details and the providers who offer that service.

Pardon/Amnesty Assistance

Taxonomy Code: FT-2800.6000

Programs that provide assistance for people who want to apply for amnesty under designated legislation or seek a pardon from the federal or state government for specific crimes under federal or state criminal law. The granting of a pardon to a person who has been convicted of a crime is an act of clemency which forgives the wrongdoer and restores his or her civil rights. At the federal level, the president has the power to grant a pardon, and at the state level the governor or a pardon board made up of high-ranking state officials may grant one. Full pardons are unconditional whereas other forms (commutations, conditional pardons, remissions and reprieves) are used to mitigate the individual's sentence. In the case of amnesty, the government grants an act of oblivion officially overlooking designated offenses, especially political offenses against a government, e.g., being in the country illegally, possessing contraband, being guilty of tax evasion. Amnesty generally occurs by statute under which convictions related to specified criminal offenses are erased and prosecutions are canceled. Unlike pardons, which apply to specific individuals, amnesty legislation applies to groups of people who fulfill the conditions or description laid down by the law. Amnesties do not erase a criminal act, condone or forgive it. They enable political reconciliation.

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