What's the difference between clemency and mercy?

Clemency


Definition:

  • (n.) Disposition to forgive and spare, as offenders; mildness of temper; gentleness; tenderness; mercy.
  • (n.) Mildness or softness of the elements; as, the clemency of the season.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) But in a last-ditch effort, his lawyers lodged an appeal for clemency on Monday morning.
  • (2) In a letter to the Australian newspaper , Stephens said the decision of the Indonesian president, Joko Widodo, to refuse the pair clemency made him wonder what hope there was for freedom or redemption for other drug offenders, like himself.
  • (3) In a tweet soon after Tuesday’s announcement, Assange thanked “everyone who campaigned for Chelsea Manning’s clemency.
  • (4) The Guardian asked the White House for an update on both the online petition and on Manning’s clemency appeal, but received no reply.
  • (5) A senior US attorney who was involved in the prosecution of Native American activist Leonard Peltier has requested that Barack Obama grant clemency, with a rare plea that has energized the campaign to free the high-profile indigenous prisoner.
  • (6) Nor is there clemency for the "Bolotnaya 27", who took part in mass anti-Putin street protests in May 2012.
  • (7) His book details his efforts, for example, to win some clemency for a young man named Joe Sullivan , convicted in 1989, aged 13, of burglary and rape on testimony given by two older “accomplices”, one with a long criminal record of sexual violence.
  • (8) On Tuesday a federal judge in Austin refused Tamayo's request for a restraining order to stop governor Rick Perry and the Texas board of pardons and paroles from considering Tamayo's clemency petition until the procedure is "adequate and fair".
  • (9) The document will be given to all 24 England representative teams, with Ray Clemence having delivered a presentation to the Under-17s on Tuesday.
  • (10) The prisoner's appeal for clemency has been backed by many prominent individuals and groups in Georgia, including one of its most famous resident, former president Jimmy Carter.
  • (11) The parole board declined to spare Gissendaner’s life after a clemency hearing in February.
  • (12) The five political prisoners – convicted over a 2003 raid on an Indonesian military weapons arsenal – were granted clemency by Widodo in a ceremony at Abepura prison, in the provincial capital Jayapura.
  • (13) However, the focus on Snowden's singular case seriously deflects from the fact that the Obama administration has been a nightmare for whistleblowers and truth tellers, and that several others currently in prison or in exile deserve the same clemency or clear assurances they will not be prosecuted.
  • (14) Pro bono legal project Clemency Project 2014 was involved with clemency applications for 25 of the people granted commutations.
  • (15) Photograph: Lembaga Bantuan Hukum Masyarakat Jefferson has previously refused to apply for clemency, arguing that it would equate to an admission of guilt to a crime he did not commit.
  • (16) Ray Bennett, now 59 and decades sober, will die in prison as sentenced 24 years ago – unless, as he hopes, he receives the same clemency that Barack Obama issued last week for 46 prisoners with similar cases.
  • (17) Peltier’s request for clemency is not a pardon appeal, but simply asks that Obama reduce the sentence.
  • (18) Gove said her power of “executive clemency” should be used to release 500 prisoners serving imprisonment for public protection (IPP) sentences who have already served more than the usual maximum sentences for their offences.
  • (19) Then, last July, Brown walked free after being granted clemency by Barack Obama.
  • (20) But Manning’s lawyers see the negative response of both the DoJ and the army as missing the point – they say their clemency petition is with Obama directly.

Mercy


Definition:

  • (n.) Forbearance to inflict harm under circumstances of provocation, when one has the power to inflict it; compassionate treatment of an offender or adversary; clemency.
  • (n.) Compassionate treatment of the unfortunate and helpless; sometimes, favor, beneficence.
  • (n.) Disposition to exercise compassion or favor; pity; compassion; willingness to spare or to help.
  • (n.) A blessing regarded as a manifestation of compassion or favor.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) The law and justice minister, Anisul Huq, said the 73-year-old leader was hanged after he refused to seek mercy from the country’s president.
  • (2) But if May rushes headlong into a panicked triggering of article 50 without a clear idea of what she wants out of negotiations, she will have left us at the mercy of 27 countries who have heard little but table-thumping and empty threats from ministers.
  • (3) He called for care for the environment to be added to the seven spiritual works of mercy outlined in the Gospel that the faithful are asked to perform throughout the pope’s year of mercy in 2016.
  • (4) But Ruby Tweedie, another local resident, said: "There have been so many doubts about his guilt that it's only fair that the man, who has only a few months to live, should be shown mercy."
  • (5) Constant ribbing about his private life was compromising Deayton's position as the show's "holier-than-thou" host, who showed no mercy towards politicians or celebrities caught in a similar position, the corporation added.
  • (6) The 70-year-old describes a life of comfortable detachment from mainstream society, but with long periods in which he and his 74-year-old wife, Shin-yeol, are at the mercy of the elements.
  • (7) We're kind of at Mother Nature's mercy at this point," said Tom Kruschke, another fire department spokesman .
  • (8) Without him, we were at the mercy of increasingly nervous investors, and our Hollywood film-making future hung in the balance.
  • (9) Students of privatisation over the years have learnt to be grateful for small mercies.
  • (10) The mayor is a good person, but no one invited him, certainly not officially … The pope was furious.” While the prank provided fodder to critics of the mayor, it also underscored a more serious issue between the Vatican and Rome just a few months ahead of the church’s jubilee year of mercy, which begins on 8 December.
  • (11) The only mercy was they would have known little about it.
  • (12) After Hollande spent two hours on French radio in a patent relaunch of his presidency, a film producer announced that a biopic of Trierweiler’s revenge memoir, Merci Pour Ce Moment (Thank You For This Moment), is now in the works.
  • (13) Hunt replied: "Merci hopefully when consultation over we can have coffee like old days!"
  • (14) "The legal system has lost all sense of mercy and justice and it has been replaced with punitiveness and vindictiveness," Stinebrickner-Kauffman told Mail Online .
  • (15) If Whittingdale had any honour, any mercy, and any basic human decency, he would murder David Attenborough himself today, in his bed, to spare him any further suffering.
  • (16) It was not something that was talked about.” Thomson added: “It was mercifully quick and I remember first of all feeling surprise, then fear, then horror as I realised I quite simply couldn’t escape – because he was stronger than me, and there was no sense even initially of any sexual desire from him, which I suppose, looking back, again I find odd.” The MP said she had felt “absolutely numbed” and ashamed but told no one about the incident.
  • (17) Several survivors and family members of the victims who were flown to the US testified this week , and one cursed Bales for attacking villagers as some slept and others screamed for mercy.
  • (18) This meant that if the rebels started abusing people, the Misca would withdraw, leaving the civilian population at their mercy.
  • (19) Sitting in a side street listening to the sound of loud blasts and gunfire emanating from Nariman House, Rakash Bhaud, the local leader of the far-right Hindu party Shiv Sena, blamed the central government for the failures that, he said, had left them at the mercy of Pakistan-backed terrorists.
  • (20) More emphasis on mercy is needed in this case, surely, and less on killing.