On Friday, Governor Pat Quinn continued whittling down on the Illinois pardon petition backlog by deciding on another 144 petitions for executive clemency, granting 42 of them.  Of the granted petitions, the convictions ranged from burglary to drug offenses.

One interesting pardon that Governor Quinn granted was to an offense that was already pardoned.  The petitioner was convicted in 1984 and was given executive clemency by former Governor Jim Edgar in 1992.  In those times, pardons were essentially state-sanctioned forgiveness, without the accompanying avenue to clear one’s record.  This is still the case for federal pardons.  Now that someone can seek authorization to clear their criminal record with a pardon, this petitioner had to go through the process twice.  Congratulations to all those who received pardons, for now finally being able to keep their criminal history in the past!

According to the Chicago Tribune article, Governer Quinn has decided on 2,068 clemency petitions throughout his tenure.  He has granted 761 and denied 1,307. 

Saturday’s State Journal-Register had a good article giving an overview of the state of executive clemency petitions before Governor Pat Quinn right now.  The article points out how former Governor Blagojevich did very little in the way of petitions for executive clemency.  Because Blagojevich refused to address the petitions before him, a backlog continued to build up.  When Governor Quinn took office, that backlog had grown to about 2,500 petitions.

Governor Quinn has done a good job chipping away at the backlog of clemency petitions, while also addressing the newer ones that he receives.  Since taking office in 2009, Governor Quinn has acted on roughly 1,900 petitions.  These petitions have come in the form of pardons and commutations of sentence.

The article also highlights the role of the Prisoner Review Board, which serve as a team of advisors for the Governor.  All petitions for pardons and commutations are initially reviewed by the Prisoner Review Board.  The board will also conduct hearings for those petitioners who request it.  After their review, the Prisoner Review Board sends off the petition to Governor Quinn along with a recommendation.  Governor Quinn usually follows this recommendation, though he can, and does occasionally, overrule them.  If the Governor grants the clemency petition, the petitioner will be eligible to expunge the conviction from her criminal record.