Yesterday Illinois Governor Pat Quinn made decisions on 188 petitions for executive clemency, granting 52 and denying 136.  Of the 52 granted petitions for clemency, 51 were pardons and one was a commutation of sentence.  As is often the case, Governor Quinn released his decisions on the Friday before a holiday weekend, when they tend to get lost in the media shuffle.

The pardons that Governor Quinn granted were of no surprise.  According to the Chicago Sun-Times, of the pardoned offenses, “twenty-five involved theft. Sixteen involved drugs. Eight offenses included some kind of violence…”  The violence cases are usually going to be some form of misdemeanor battery, often the domestic variety.  People who have been arrested for theft, drugs, and/or domestic battery are the most common potential clients that call me (not including quasi-criminal traffic offenses such as DUI, driving on suspended/revoked, or operating an uninsured motor vehicle).  So I would expect that Governor Quinn likely sees more petitions for theft, drugs, or battery than anything else.

One interesting note, both the Chicago Sun-Times and the Chicago Tribune incorrectly state that Governor Quinn is expunging the petitioners’ criminal records.  Governor Quinn doesn’t actually expunge their criminal records; he merely grants them the authorization to expunge.  Someone that receives a pardon will still have to go through the normal expungement process by filing a separate petition with the court.  Ultimately it is up to the judge to grant the actual expungement.

A few weeks ago there was a big uproar about the outgoing Mississippi governor, Haley Barbour, granting a couple hundred pardon petitions, some of which were from convicted murders.  It made national news and put the citizenry at fear that the governor was putting them in danger.  The only problem, as Barbour points out:  “Most of them had been out for years and years and years. They're no more a threat to the people of Mississippi now than they were the week before they got their pardon.”

The problem stems from people’s misconception of the pardon process.  Many have this impression that a pardon is basically used to free convicts from prison.  The truth is that most forms of executive clemency are pardons granted to those whose sentences have long been over, by several years or even decades.  It is a way to clear their criminal record so that they may move on with their lives.  But unfortunately what people see are sensationalized headlines that the governor is pardoning convicted felons. 

Sadly, this is the main reason why many governors, like Barbour, choose to wait on making executive clemency decisions until they’re walking out the door.  According to Reuters, “Barbour granted 222 acts of clemency in his tenure… All but eight came in the final days of his tenure.”  Many governors wait because it is a risky political maneuver to grant executive clemency.  First, a governor runs the risk of a public backlash because he “freed convicted felons.”  Second, if any of those receiving a pardon ever so much as gets arrested again, you better believe it’s all over the local news.  Many governors simply play it safe by giving executive clemency when the possible repercussions have lowest impact, i.e., when they’re leaving office.  So those with criminal records must sit and wait for years before they can move on with their lives.

Fortunately for those of us in Illinois, Governor Pat Quinn is very pro-pardon.  He has been making executive clemency decisions throughout his tenure, usually a couple hundred every few months.  However, there is still the political risk of possible re-offenders.  This is why I always tell clients that you must have a good showing of rehabilitation to be a good candidate for a pardon.  You have to convince Governor Quinn, and the Prisoner Review Board who provide Quinn with guidance, that there is no chance that you will ever commit another crime.  Otherwise, he is taking the chance of making national headlines like Barbour.