A PARDON removes all blame as if "the incident" never happened whereas a commutation mitigates the punishment but leaves the guilt intact and that never goes away.
I DO NOT UNDERSTAND THE PURPOSE of either.
IF the deed was done and nothing changed what is the logic behind a "pardon" or a "commutation" other than mere political partisan power play "I can erase whatever I choose as if it never happened". But it happened. There is never any erasure to truth. There is just a cloaking of it. A bas**rdzing of it. An evilizing it.
This makes sense to you because? I think it is RIDICULOUS.