Pardons Block Civil Restitution for Victims

Executive clemency for corporate or owner‑defendants can effectively frustrate victims’ ability to collect civil judgments or recover damages, by removing criminal enforcement leverage, altering asset‑exposure, or changing defendants’ bargaining position. This dynamic means pardons are not only mercy tools but also economic instruments that can redirect who bears the cost of corporate wrongdoing. — Recognizing pardons as a mechanism that can deny victims restitution reframes clemency debates from abstract exercises of mercy to concrete redistributions of accountability and financial harm.