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The Case For An Overhaul of The Federal Clemency System

Penn Little
10 min readSep 9, 2019

On a recent four-hour flight, I met a presently enrolled USC law student. She expressed a keen interest when we discussed state-level expungement of criminal records. Although, the self-proclaimed public defender(-to-be) admitted confusion, as it pertains to how the federal process works. She said,

“I think only Kim or Kanye can get that done…”

Prison Reform Advocates, White House Counselor Jared Kushner (left), Kim Kardashian-West (center), & White House Counselor Ivanka Trump (right). Source: Footwear News.

Despite ‘confusion,’ that response’s pragmatism and idealism are ironic because its the most logical answer I’ve heard to date! If the idealist says: “the debate leads to a more perfect union,” and the pragmatist agrees…then, Washington, we have a problem (with our logic)!

“The fact that there’s no federal expungement process, is in-and-of-itself, a travesty,”

says Berkeley-educated, 21-year bar veteran, and San Francisco defense attorney, Lewis Romero.

Aside from a small expungement provision for a few minor offenses by the…

Penn Little
Penn Little

Written by Penn Little

Entrepreneur & Investigative Journalist www.pennlittle.com/publications | tips@pennlittle.com Story Tips: Email your name, phone, and 2 paragraph summary.

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