Unconditional Forgiveness

Is there such a thing as unconditional forgiveness? I doubt it. But perhaps someone can supply a clear example of it. 

Suppose you take money from my wallet without my permission. I catch you at it and express my moral objection. You give me back my money and apologize for having taken it. I forgive you. I forgive you, but only because you have made restitution and have apologized. For I might not have forgiven you: I might have told you to go to hell and get out of my life for good.

By forgiving you, I freely abandon the justified negative attitude toward you that resulted from your bad behavior. This works a salutary change in me, but it also does you good, for now you are restored to my good graces and our mutual relations become once again amicable.

The example just given suggests two things about forgiveness.

First, it suggests that forgiveness is conditional in nature. It suggests that a necessary condition of an act's being an act of forgiveness is that the malefactor admit wrongdoing, show some remorse, and make amends in some way or other, by restitution, paying a fine, serving time in jail, or in some other way. There is forgiveness only if there is sincere admission of guilt and/or an evening of the scales of justice.

Second, it suggests that forgiveness is morally permissible only if the malefactor sincerely admits guilt and makes amends in some way or another. That is, one ought not forgive those who refuse to admit guilt, etc. For it is an offense against justice if I let you get away with your wrongdoing and award you the benefit of my forgiveness for nothing. When Bill Clinton, exercising his presidential power of pardon, pardoned Marc Rich, that was an affront to justice and in a two-fold way. Rich got away with his wrongdoing, and it was unfair to similar others who did not get away with their similar wrongdoing. Of course, what Clinton did was LEGAL, but the legal and the moral are two and not one.

My thesis, then, is that genuine forgiveness is conditional in its being and in its justifiability.