FINALLY! NEW ILLINOIS GOVERNOR QUINN MAKES GRANTING PARDONS A PRIORITY!

Gov. Pat Quinn (David Carson - stltoday.com)Today, Gov. Pat Quinn pardoned 11 people; these are the first pardons of our new Governor.  Thank you, Gov. Quinn! Article here.

The pardon power is an enumerated power of the Governor; it is a function of Government.  The issue here is not whether one agrees/disagrees that a person should be pardoned for a criminal indiscretion of the past; instead, the issue is that the Governor has the sole power to pardon and that power must not be blatantly ignored.  If a Governor is totally against pardoning any person, then the Governor must deny all pardons; the Governor cannot simply ignore the requests. On the other hand, if the Governor is not entirely against granting pardons, and a petitioner  has a compelling case for being pardoned, then the Governor must make a decision and either grant or deny the pardon.  Essentially, a Governor shall not allow pardon petitions to sit indefinitely without a decision, one way or another.

Ex-IL Governor Blagojevich promised many people he would make decisions on pardons. He lied. Instead, he allowed approximately 2500 pardons to pile up on his desk for the 6 years that he was in office.  People's lives were in limbo as they waited, hoped and prayed for an answer. As of April 2008, he had only granted 67.  He then granted about 24 more.  Regardless, he granted a total of less than 100 pardons - that is embarassing.  And according to the IL Prisoner Review Board last April, Blagojevich had approximately 1500 on his desk.  According to Gov. Quinn, there are an additional 1000; he stated there is a backlog of over 2500!

In Illinois, a person seeking a pardon, clemency or reprieve must first petition the IL Prisoner Review Board.  After the petition has been submitted, the petitioner has an opportunity for a hearing where he makes his case before the Board as to why he should be pardoned. Then, the Board makes a confidential recommendation to the Governor, whether they think the person should be pardoned.  Lastly, the petition sits in the hands of the Governor and awaits final denial or approval.  By law, the Governor is not required to make a decision within any period of time.  (That should be obvious! Blagojevich allowed thousands to pile up on his desk.) Thus, the petitioner must wait and wait and wait for a decision. There is nothing one can do to get an answer.  The person cannot even re-petition the Governor if no decision has been made.  The only time a person can re-petition is if the person is denied and he waits a year after denial and files again.

We need to pardon people who made a mistake and have since rehabilitated themselves.  I am not talking about the convicted murderer who has a lengthy, violent past.  Not all felons are those who have done time in prison.  Many are people who made a stupid mistake as a kid and were given probation.  At the time, they did not know that their mistake would follow them for life, even though they did not go to jail.  Keep in mind, in IL, once a felon, always a felon, unless you are granted a pardon. 

Thank you, Governor Quinn, for making decisions on yet another matter that ex-Governor Blagojevich refused to handle.  By granting the 11 pardons, you have restored the lives of not just 11 people but of 11 people's families and their communities.

www.xpunged.com and www.tamaraholder.com

Comments

[P.S. Ruckman, Jr.]

If Gov. Quinn is able to put a sizeable dent into Blago's backlog, I think it will be the biggest - most signficant - pardon story in many years. The idea of taking action to remedy profound neglect is compelling. It would be great if the same thing happened at the federal level too, of course. Best,