两个单词均有“赦免”罪犯的含义。amnesty指取消罪名或对罪行忽略不计，多适用于侵犯国家主权的犯罪或政治犯，由于其常用于针对一群人或一个阶层的人，故也称为general pardon, 即“大赦”[1] ；其可经行政命令或立法予以颁布pardon 多用于指宽恕某个罪犯的罪行，常适用于那些危害国家治安的罪犯，由于pardon通常只能由国家行政长官，如总统或州长等的恩准 (For federal offenses a pardon can be issued only by President；for state offenses, usu. only by the governor) [3]，故其也称为 executive pardon [4]。此外，pardon 并非等同 quashing a conviction, 即罪犯的罪行虽然可以赦免，但其犯罪记录仍然存在[5]。

[1]“amnesty：A pardon extended by the government to a group or class of persons， usu. for a political offense. Unlike an ordinary pardon，amnesty is usu. addressed to crimes against state sovereignty. " Cf. Bryan A. Gamer, Black's Law Dictionary, 7th edition, at p. 83，West Group (1999).
[2]" Amnesty may be granted either by executive decree or by legislative act. " Cf. Cf. James E. Clapp, Random House Webster's Dictionary of the Law, at p. 27，Random House (2000).
[3] Id. at p. 318.
[4]“A pardon is usu. granted by the chief executive of a government. " Cf. Bryan A. Gamer, Black's Law Dictionary，7th edition, at p. 1137，West Group (1999).
[5]“ Pardon bars any further prosecution or punishment，but it does not remove a conviction firom one's record. ”Cf. James E. Clapp, Random House Webster's Dictionary of the Law，at p. 318，Random House (2000).