§ Mr. KilfoyleTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many royal pardons of convicted criminals were agreed by the Home Secretary in each year between 1983 and 2003. [154575]
§ Mr. BlunkettThe two forms of the Royal Prerogative of Mercy (RPM) used to grant pardons to convicted criminals are
(1)Free pardon ("free" in this context means that the pardon is free from any conditions); and(2)Remission (the mitigation of punishment by releasing a prisoner from having to serve some or all of the remainder of his sentence; or releasing one who has been subjected to a monetary penalty from the obligation to pay it or part of it).The figures from 1992 are in the following table—Figures for earlier years are not readily available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Free Pardons Remission1 1992 19 42 1993 22 34 1994 12 29 1995 12 1 1996 1 4 1997 0 3 1998 0 0 1999 0 0 2000 0 2 2001 0 0 2002 0 3 2003 0 0 Note: These figures do not include the occasional use of RPM for small periods of remission to reward meritorious acts in prison (e.g. extinguishing a fire).