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For example, could a law that legalizes a drug retroactively free people previously convicted on charges for that drug so long as they didn't break any other laws? I know laws can't retroactively punish someone, but can they do the reverse?

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"The law" cannot offer a pardon, but an executive might. For instance, the governor of a state often has the power to grant pardons for state convictions, therefore a governor can pardon e.g. those convicted on state misdemeanor marijuana possession charges. Such a pardon is not automatic and is not guaranteed, hence in Washington, it took almost 7 years for the governor to offer a procedure for applying for pardon, subsequent to the state's limited legalization in 2012. It can also be done by legislative act (as was done after the governor announced the pardon program), where a law was passed allowing certain people convicted of certain marijuana offenses to apply to the court to have the conviction vacated. A legislature can also pass a law vacating a conviction when the underlying act remains illegal, for example prostitution is still illegal in Washington, but in a specified subset of cases, certain people can have their convictions vacated. In other words, it requires specific executive or legislative action.

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  • It may be worth noting for OP that, although 'pardon' isn't the right word for it, the result he's asking about can also be brought about through the courts but that, even then, it may not be automatic. On the topic of life sentences without parole for juveniles, the U.S. Supreme Court retroactively applied their decision that such sentences are unconstitutional in a separate case years later. It also did not automatically release prisoners serving those sentences (like a 'pardon' would), but rather allowed them the opportunity to go before the parole board.
    – A.fm.
    Commented May 28, 2019 at 6:03
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As a general rule assume no

  • when a law is abolished, the conditions under which previous convictions are to be delt with can be determined, but must not be

In the case of §175 in Germany, no conditions were set

  • so no further charges, but existing convictions remainded as is

At a later point of time it was desided that the nullification could be applied for.

See the chapter Pardon of the victims in the wiki article

Germany §175 StGB

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paragraph_175#Pardon_of_the_victims

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Yes

It can and has happened. For example, laws that decriminalized homosexuality usually include a blanket pardon for people convicted under the previous laws.

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    Actually citing examples of such law would help.
    – user4657
    Commented May 27, 2019 at 4:51
  • This isn't always correct.
    – User37849012643
    Commented May 27, 2019 at 9:28
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    Alan Turing most definitely didn't receive a pardon as part of a "blanket pardon". Most likely because it took 50 years for opinions to change from "it's bad, you should go to jail", to "it's bad, but not bad enought you should go to jail", to "it's bad, but not really anyone else's business", and finally fifty years later "who on earth had the stupid idea that being homosexual is bad".
    – gnasher729
    Commented May 27, 2019 at 13:30
  • @gnasher729 More a change in attitude to "We can turn the gays against the transgender community."
    – Comic Sans Seraphim
    Commented Feb 16, 2023 at 16:28

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