A high percentage of us want the baddest guys put to death. In today's society the slightest frustration often leads to a lawsuit. We revel in getting the person who wronged us. And we feel especially wronged if the person who hurt us is not hit hard by our legal system. We have become a society with little appreciation for mercy.
Mercy seems wimpy, passive, even wrong somehow.
Let one guy get away with it and the rest will try, seems to be the theory. But mercy is the counterpoint to justice. It is the reminder that despite all our laws and lawyers there are times to give it up and just let go. It is a reminder that a society cannot live by rules alone. Pardons are legislated acts of mercy.