Amnesty, in international law, act of effacing and forgetting past offenses granted by the government to persons who have been guilty of neglect or crime. The term is applied to rebellious acts against the state. Amnesty differs from pardon in that amnesty causes the crime to be forgotten, whereas pardon, given after a conviction, exempts the criminal from further punishment. Amnesty is usually granted to a class of criminals or group of persons who may have committed a crime and is offered in order to restore tranquility in the state.

Some examples of amnesty in United States history were those granted by President Andrew Johnson after the American Civil War and those given to certain wartime offenders after World Wars I and II. Amnesty may be conditional upon fulfillment of certain obligations within a specified period. In 1974 President Gerald Ford instituted a program for Vietnam War deserters and draft evaders, requiring them to spend two years doing public service work as the condition for amnesty. Few people took advantage of these terms within the time allowed for the program.