PARDON POWER: Iowa: Where Life Means Life!Pardon Power

MEDIA RECOGNITION

Washington Post (5/24/17)

Chicago Tribune (11/17/16)

The Guardian (9/5/16)

USA Today (8/3/16)

CNN (8/6/15)

Washington Post (4/11/15)

TIME (3/31/15)

USA Today (2/4/15)

New York Times (1/26/15)

TIME (12/18/14)

Washington Post (11/26/14)

CNN (12/31/13)

New York Times (11/30/13)

Huffington Post (8/19/13)

Washington Post (8/16/13)

San Francisco Chronicle (7/22/13)

Washington Post (3/2/13)

Reason Magazine (11/5/12)

San Francisco Chronicle (11/2/12)

Daily Caller (10/2/12)

Powerline (1/14/12)

CNN (1/12/12)

USA Today (1/12/12)

San Francisco Chronicle (11/23/11)

Huffington Post (6/3/11)

Wall Street Journal (2/21/11)

CBS News (2/21/11)

Associated Press (2/21/11)

ESPN (2/21/11)

Reason Magazine (1/10/11)

San Francisco Chronicle (1/5/11)

Washington Post (12/30/10)

Washington Times (12/26/10)

Reason Magazine (12/5/10)

New York Times (12/3/10)

Bloomberg News (12/3/10)

Huffington Post (12/3/10)

Daily Kos (12/3/10)

Washington Post (12/3/10)

Wall Street Journal (12/3/10)

National Public Radio (12/3/10)

Huffington Post (11/24/10)

S. F. Chronicle (11/11/10)

Politico.Com (10/28/10)

Daily Caller (7/7/10)

WSJ Law Blog (4/28/10)

Huffington Post (4/10/10)

Reason Magazine (12/9/09)

Chicago Tribune (11/9/09)

The Swamp (11/2/09)

S. F. Chronicle (5/6/09)

Houston Chronicle (1/2/09)

ABC News (12/30/08)

FOX News (12/26/08)

Time / CNN (12/25/08)

Time /CNN (12/24/08)

Miami Herald (12/24/08)

Washington Post (12/12/08)

WSJ Law Blog (12/1/08)

The Takeaway (11/27/08)

The Swamp (11/25/08)

The Swamp (10/21/08)

Newsday (7/26/08)

Slate (7/21/08)

ONLINE BOOKSHELF

Convicting the Innocent: Sixty-Five Actual Errors of Criminal Justice - Borchard

Justice Denied: Clemency Appeals in Death Pensalty Cases - Burnett

Clemency and Cruelty in the Roman World - Dowling

The Pardoning Power of the President - Humbert

The Pardoning Power in the American States - Jensen

On the Abuse of the Pardoning Power - Lieber

Pardons: Justice, Mercy and the Public Interest - Moore

Forgiveness, Mercy and Clemency - Sarat and Hussain

NOTABLE CASE LAW

1833 - United States v. Wilson

1855 - Ex Parte Wells

1866 - Ex Parte Garland

1871 - Armstrong v. United States

1871 - United States v. Klein

1877 - Knote v.United States

1885 - The Laura

1890 - Illinois Central Railroad v. Bosworth

1892 - Boyd v. United States

1914 - Carlesi v. New York

1915 - Burdick v. United States

1925 - Ex Parte Grossman

1927 - Chapman v. Scott

1927 - Biddle v. Perovich

1974 - Hoffa v. Saxbe

1974 - Schick v. Reed

1975 - Murphy v. Ford

1981 - Connectictu Board of Pardons v. Dumschat

1990 - United States v. Noonan

1997 - In Re Elliot Abrams

1998 - Ohio Adult Parole Authority v. Woodard

TERMS TO KNOW

AMNESTY - A general or group pardon that is usually granted before conviction. This power is most commonly associated with post-war clemency, for draft evasion, sedition or other violations of selective service laws. Amnesties may or may not be conditional

CLEMENCY - At the federal level, this is a broad term which is interpreted to include all of the other terms defined in this section. Sometimes, "clemency" is described as "the pardon power," which is acceptable, so long as it is understood that, formally speaking, a pardon is one of several forms of clemency. Clemency powers can be found in all three branches of the federal government (executive, legislative and judicial). At the state level, "clemency" is sometimes meant to be synonymous with "commutation." Thus "clemency" is used to release indivduals from prison. "Pardons" in such states are used to restore the civil rights of those who have already served their time.

COMMUTATION - A reduction in the severity of a punishment that is commonly confused with a pardon. Commutations reduce the length of a sentence or the amount of a fine. Perhaps the most high-profile commutations are those that change a death sentence to life in prison, or life in prison without the possibility of parole. Commutations can be controversial if the "reduction" is, arguably, not a reduction. Imagine a 2-year sentence being commuted to a $900,000 fine. Is that really a reduction in the severity of the punishment? Commutations can have conditions attached. Supreme Court decisions appear to suggest that commutations of sentence cannot be refused. Although there was a time when commutations were granted more frequently than pardons, they are very rarely granted today.

EXPUNGEMENT - Each state is free to define expungement as it pleases, but, generally, it referes to a process whereby records pertaining to a case are removed from the view of the public. In some instances, the records do not completely "disappear," but are available to law enforcement. States also routinely exempt certain offenses from the possibility of expungement. See also "sealing" (below)

PARDON - The removal of all disability or punishment. Pardons may be granted before or after conviction. Today, they are usually granted in order to restore civil rights (the right to vote, hold public office, participate in a jury, own a firearm, etc.). Pardons can have conditions attached. There has been a steady decline in the granting of pardons since 1900 whether one looks at the raw number of pardons, the percentage of applications that result in pardons or the percentage of presidential clemency decisions which result in pardons. There has, however, been a more accelerated decline since the late 1960s.

REMISSION - Most often, remissions were devices used to remove fines and forfeitures. In some instances, however, the word remit was used to simply remove (as opposed to reducing) a portion of a sentence. Today, federal clemency statistics do not even count remissions as a separate category of clemency decisions.

REPRIEVE - Delays the imposition of a punishment without reference to such issues as due process or the guilt or innocence of the accused. Sometimes used as a synonym for "stay." See Respite, below.

RESPITE - Delays the imposition of a punishment without reference to such issues as due process or the guilt or innocence of the accused. Typically, respites are granted for a specific number of days (30 to 60) but they have often been followed by additional respites and have also been granted in an entirely open-ended fashion (as in, "We will get back to you, when we can."). Today, the word "reprieve" is more likely to be used for an act of clemency that delays punishment.

SEALING - Each state is free to define sealing as it pleases, but, generally, it referes to a process whereby records pertaining to a case are removed from the view of the public. In some instances, the records do not completely "disappear," but are available to law enforcement. States also routinely exempt certain offenses from the possibility of sealing. See also "expungement" (above).

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Iowa: Where Life Means Life!

The Des Moines Register reports Iowa's three most recent governors have commuted life sentences in only nine instances over the last 26 years. Meanwhile the population of those with life-sentences has risen dramatically, from 162 inmates in 1983 to 617 today (an increase of 281 percent). See story here.

1 comment:

Andrew Oh-Willeke said...: If there any good comprehensive reference, other than Pardon Power posts, on state level pardon and clemency grants?; August 17, 2009 at 4:16 PM

OTHER GREAT BLOGS

ABA: Criminal Justice

ABA: Death Penalty

ABA: Judiciary

Benchmarks

Behind Enemy Lines

Capital Defense Weekly

CAN-DO: Justice Through Clemency

The Clemency Report

CNN/Court TV

Concurring Opinions

Courthouse News Service

Crime and Consequences

Crime and Federalism

Crime Prof Blog

Criminal Justice Policy Foundation

Dear Mr President, Yes You Can

Exodus Foundation

Families Against Mandatory Minimums

Federal Prison/Post Conviction Blog

The General Blog of Crime

The Holder Position

Lowering the Bar

Main Justice

The Marshall Project

Right on Crime

Sentencing Law and Policy

Sentence Speak

StateLine.Org

Talk Left

WSJ Law Blog

White Collar Crime Prof

Wrongful Convictions

Notable Visitors

378,960 Executive Office of the President of the United States

378,918 Executive Office of the President of the United States

378,837 Executive Office of the President of the United States

377,597 Executive Office of the President of the United States

377,578 Executive Office of the President of the United States

377,345 Executive Office of the President of the United States

374,952 Executive Office of the President of the United States

374,927 Executive Office of the President of the United States

374,755 Executive Office of the President of the United States

369,805 Executive Office of the President of the United States

369,485 Executive Office of the President of the United States

352,329 Executive Office of the President of the United States

349,651 Executive Office of the President of the United States

346,068 Executive Office of the President of the United States

345,947 U.S. Department of State

344,600 Executive Office of the President of the United States

344,592 Executive Office of the President of the United States

343,275 The Pentagon

341,376 Executive Office of the President of the United States

335,159 Executive Office of the President of the United States

335,038 Executive Office of the President of the United States

334,835 U.S.House of Representatives

334,574 Executive Office of the President of the United States

332,860 Executive Office of the President of the United States

332,752 Executive Office of the President of the United States

332,696 Executive Office of the President of the United States

331,328 Executive Office of the President of the United States

330,505 Executive Office of the President of the United States

329,250 Executive Office of the President of the United States

323,267 Executive Office of the President of the United States

315,827 Democratic National Headquarters

315,392 Executive Office of the President of the United States

314,408 Executive Office of the President of the United States

311,127 U.S.House of Representatives

311,036 Executive Office of the President of the United States

300,300 U.S.House of Representatives

287,512 Executive Office of the President of the United States

287,496 Executive Office of the President of the United States

247,595 Executive Office of the President of the United States

243,275 Executive Office of the President of the United States

220,411 U.S. House of Representatives

211,671 U.S. Supreme Court

209,358 U.S. House of Representatives

209,206 Executive Office of the President of the United States

204,115 U.S. House of Representatives

202,901 U.S.Supreme Court

198,272 U.S. House of Representatives

196,401 The Pentagon

196,005 Executive Office of the President of the United States

191,414 Central Intelligence Agency

186,739 Administrative Office, U.S. Courts

185,111 Administrative Office, U.S. Courts

185,003 U.S. Department of State

184,282 U.S. Supreme Court

183,619 U.S. Department of State

1183,482 Administrative Office, U.S. Courts

blogger templates | Make Money Online

PARDON POWER

ABOUT ...

RECENT MEDIA GIGS

MEDIA RECOGNITION

PARDON EXPERTS

COMMENTARY / RESEARCH

ONLINE BOOKSHELF

MULTI MEDIA LINKS

NOTABLE CASE LAW

TERMS TO KNOW

LEGAL DISCLAIMER

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Iowa: Where Life Means Life!

1 comment:

Follow Us Via

ABA Honoree

Pardon O. Henry !

POSTS by PRESIDENT

POSTS by STATE

ARCHIVES

OTHER CATEGORIES

OUR GUESTS

StatCounter

OTHER USEFUL LINKS

OTHER GREAT BLOGS

Notable Visitors

Follow by Email

PARDON POWER

ABOUT ...

RECENT MEDIA GIGS

MEDIA RECOGNITION

PARDON EXPERTS

COMMENTARY / RESEARCH

ONLINE BOOKSHELF

MULTI MEDIA LINKS

NOTABLE CASE LAW

TERMS TO KNOW

LEGAL DISCLAIMER

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Iowa: Where Life Means Life!

1 comment:

Subscribe To

Follow Us Via

ABA Honoree

Pardon O. Henry !

POSTS by PRESIDENT

POSTS by STATE

ARCHIVES

OTHER CATEGORIES

OUR GUESTS

StatCounter

OTHER USEFUL LINKS

OTHER GREAT BLOGS

Notable Visitors

Follow by Email