𝗠𝗜𝗦𝗜𝗡𝗙𝗢𝗥𝗠𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡, 𝗗𝗜𝗦𝗜𝗡𝗙𝗢𝗥𝗠𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡 𝗢𝗥 𝗦𝗜𝗠𝗣𝗟𝗬 𝗟𝗬𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗙𝗥𝗢𝗠 𝗣𝗥𝗘𝗦𝗜𝗗𝗘𝗡𝗧-𝗘𝗟𝗘𝗖𝗧 𝗧𝗥𝗨𝗠𝗣? 𝗛𝗢𝗪 𝗖𝗔𝗡 𝗪𝗘 𝗣𝗢𝗦𝗦𝗜𝗕𝗟𝗬 𝗞𝗡𝗢𝗪 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗦𝗨𝗥𝗘?

 

In the case of President-Elect Donald Trump it's sometimes difficult to distinguish between disinformation and misinformation, with misinformation being simply inaccurate, but disinformation intentionally inaccurate.

What Biden did with 37 criminals on death row was not a "pardon," as Trump stated, but simply a commutation of a death sentence to a life sentence without the possibility of parole, a sentence consistent with the  current moratorium imposed on federal executions in cases other than terrorism and hate-motivated mass murder.

A pardon is a complete forgiveness of a crime and restores full rights of citizenship. People who have been convicted of a crime forfeit certain rights, such as to hold public office or vote. Because a pardon wipes out the conviction, those rights are restored.

A commutation can be a reduction of a sentence to a lesser period of time or altering the punishment. The president can commute a sentence.

While a pardon deletes a conviction, a commutation keeps the conviction but deletes or lowers the punishment. The conviction stays on the record, and the person who receives the commutation does not have any rights restored.