Executive clemency is a discretionary power to grant legal mercy and is rarely given. Using data from contemporary clemency hearings in four states, I explore how state actors use commutation hearings as sites to exert social control and communicate hegemonic ideology. Clemency board members use hearings as sites to communicate the behaviors and attitudes they desire from applicants, aiming to generate compliance and consent. These state actors use the ritual of the clemency process and the hope afforded by the possibility of legal mercy as tools to motivate desired behaviors and beliefs among those in prison both explicitly and implicitly in these hearings. Such behaviors and beliefs, accordingly, are those that serve to reinforce the control and power of the state.

中文翻译：

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仁慈与社会控制的构建：仁慈的四点分析

行政宽大是给予法律宽大的自由裁量权，但很少给予。我利用四个州当代特赦听证会的数据，探讨了国家行为者如何利用减刑听证会作为施加社会控制和传播霸权意识形态的场所。宽恕委员会成员利用听证会作为沟通他们希望申请人表现出的行为和态度的场所，旨在获得服从和同意。这些国家行为者利用宽恕程序的仪式和法律宽恕的可能性所带来的希望作为工具，在这些听证会上明确或隐含地激发监狱中的人们期望的行为和信念。因此，这些行为和信念有助于加强国家的控制和权力。