The new holiday fad: clemency debates

In addition to the new round of Bush pardons and enduring discussion of the Tookie Williams case, the holiday season news is filled with items about clemency:

• This AP story details why “Actor Ethan Hawke is asking New Jersey’s acting governor to grant clemency to a 65-year-old woman in prison for more than 16 years for murdering her boyfriend, a Trenton police officer.”

• This AP story details why California’s attorney general’s office is opposing clemency for Charles Ray Allen, arguing that “that oldest convict on California’s death row should be executed for the viciousness of his crimes despite his age and failing health.”

• This story details why the attorney for “John Walker Lindh, the young Marin man who was captured while fighting for the Taliban in Afghanistan, has asked President Bush to commute his client’s 20-year sentence.”