To exonerate someone is to clear their name, to declare their innocence.
The Latin word exonerāre came into Spanish as exonerar . The term has two broad meanings as detailed by the Royal Spanish Academy ( RAE ) in its dictionary.
remove a weight
The action of exonerating, in this framework, can refer to providing relief or removing a burden . For example: "The government is analyzing exonerating medicines from the Value Added Tax" , "An official project contemplates exonerating flood victims from paying taxes for two years" , "Don't worry anymore, I'm going to exempt you from the responsibility of taking care of the grandfather .
Suppose three students are summoned by their school principal, who accuses them of committing an act of vandalism based on the testimony of an employee. The teacher believes that the three students were responsible for the incident and that is why he plans to punish them all equally. However, the testimony of one of them assuming absolute responsibility allows the other two to be exonerated . In this way, only one of the boys receives the sanction.
The honesty and sincerity necessary to make the decision to declare yourself solely responsible in a case like this are not very common, but they demonstrate very important values in a person. In general, human beings tend to blame others for their own faults. Therefore, the exoneration in this case does not depend only on the teacher, on the authority figure, but on one of the accused, which makes the story much more significant.
Remove from a position
Exonerate, on the other hand, refers to removing an individual from his job , removing him from his position: "I never thought they would exonerate me for fulfilling my obligations," "The judge decided to exonerate the three agents due to the seriousness of the offenses they committed" , "They could exonerate the soldier accused of organizing a clandestine party in the barracks" .
Exonerate a police officer
In the police , exoneration is a disciplinary sanction that involves separating an officer from the force, losing his job and the rights associated with it permanently. By exonerating an officer, he is also excluded from the retirement regime. This is the most serious sanction of all, since there are many and with different degrees; For example, although layoff also consists of expelling the officer permanently, it does not prevent him from working in another department.
In the police, exoneration is the most severe penalty.
Therefore, the democratic government has this severe tool to act in the face of an unforgivable offense, guaranteeing the people that the accused will no longer be in charge of their security. It goes without saying that the judicial system is not perfect, and that it often fails in favor of the wrong people, harming the innocent instead. The complexity of the conflict of interest of each party, the police and the government, means that the cases are not black and white. In fact, the evidence and demands of the people are not enough to exonerate a police officer, because the leaders of the moment may have compromised interests that lead them to make a less drastic decision.
The investigation of a misconduct in the police force, therefore, can be very exhaustive before reaching this irreversible measure. It is necessary to understand who was involved, to a greater or lesser degree, who had the idea to commit the crime, what led them to think they could get away with it, etc. Even having determined all these factors, it is difficult to decide what penalty will befall each of those responsible and what the public's response will be once they receive the news.