Facts & Research
Clemency
Clemency is the process by which a governor, president, or administrative board may reduce a defendant’s sentence or grant a pardon. Clemencies have been granted in death-penalty cases for a variety of reasons.
Facts & Research
Clemency is the process by which a governor, president, or administrative board may reduce a defendant’s sentence or grant a pardon. Clemencies have been granted in death-penalty cases for a variety of reasons.
All states and the federal government have a process for lowering the sentence or pardoning those facing criminal charges. Clemency is an especially important consideration for those on death row. Even after all appeals in the courts have been exhausted, there is still a possibility that the inmate’s life will be spared.
Clemencies in capital cases, however, have been rare. Aside from the occasional blanket grants of clemency by governors concerned about the overall fairness of the death penalty, less than two have been granted on average per year since 1976. In the same period, more than 1,500 cases have proceeded to execution. Among the reasons given for the granting of clemency in capital cases are: mental illness of the defendant, a co-defendant who was given a lesser sentence, inadequate legal representation, and evidence that the defendant may have been wrongly convicted.
Because the power of clemency is vested in the executive branch of the government, courts have been reluctant to impose standards on this procedure. Governors are elected; thus the process may be highly political. For these reasons, clemencies in death penalty cases are difficult to predict and immune from judicial review.
Clemencies Granted by State since 1976 | Number of Clemencies |
---|---|
Illinois | 187 |
Ohio | 21 |
Oregon | 17 |
Virginia | 10 |
Georgia | 10 |
New Jersey | 8 |
Maryland | 7 |
Florida | 6 |
New Mexico | 5 |
North Carolina | 5 |
Oklahoma | 5 |
Kentucky | 4 |
Missouri | 4 |
Colorado | 3 |
Indiana | 3 |
Tennessee | 3 |
Texas | 3 |
Federal | 2 |
Louisiana | 2 |
Arkansas | 2 |
Alabama | 1 |
Delaware | 1 |
Idaho | 1 |
Montana | 1 |
Nevada | 1 |
U.S. Military | 1 |
TOTAL | 313 |
DPIC keeps track of all clemencies granted in capital cases in the modern era by state and year, including the reasons given for the action. It also has compiled material on historical uses of clemency. Finally, DPIC describes the differences among state laws regarding who makes the clemency decision and any constraints on the process.
Although a reprieve is technically a type of clemency, this page discusses only executive acts with permanent effects on a defendant’s conviction or sentence. Temporary holds on executions are tracked on our Outcome of Death Warrants pages.
Jan 20, 2021
Democratic members of the U.S. House and Senate have called on incoming President Joe Biden (pictured) to take quick action on his campaign pledge to end the federal death penalty. Legislators introduced three bills to abolish the…
Read MoreClemency
Sep 14, 2023
On September 12, 2023, East Baton Rouge District Attorney Hillar Moore filed a request for injunctive relief, asking the 19th Judicial District Court to vacate hearings scheduled for three East Baton Rouge Parish prisoners who have requested cleme…
Clemency
Aug 18, 2023
Two of the five members of the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board, which considers the clemency petitions of the state’s death row prisoners, have resigned. Board chairman Richard Smothermon and…
Clemency
Aug 10, 2023
On August 9th, with the use of his executive authority, Governor John Bel Edwards (pictured) asked the Board of Pardons and Committee on Parole to return the 56 clemency applications filed by death-sentenced prisoners in Louisiana to its docket fo…
Arbitrariness
Jul 28, 2023
On July 24, 2023, the Louisiana Board of Pardons and Parole set aside all 56 clemency applications filed by nearly every death-sentenced prisoner in Louisiana last month without reviewing the merits of a single one of them. The prisoners asked for…
Innocence
Jul 03, 2023
As Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards (pictured) considers the
Race
Jun 14, 2023
On June 13, 2023, 51 of the 57 people on Louisiana’s death row filed clemency applications with the Louisiana Board of Pardons and Committee on Parole, asking Governor John Bel Edwards to commute their sentences to life without parole. …
Human Rights
May 19, 2023
UPDATE 2: On June 2, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit lifted the stay that had been imposed by the U.S. District Court, saying that the lower court did not have jurisdiction to order the stay.UPDATE 1: On May 31, 2023,…
Capital Case Development
Apr 26, 2023
On April 26, the Oklahoma Board of Pardons and Paroles declined to recommend clemency for death-row prisoner Richard Glossip (pictured), who is scheduled to be executed on May 18, 2023. The board’s 2 – 2 vote constituted a denial of clemency since t…
Innocence
Jan 27, 2023
Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond has appointed a special counsel to conduct a ‘thorough review’ of the case of death-row prisoner Richard Glossip, who has faced nine execution dates despite strong evide…
Innocence
Jan 11, 2023
January 11, 2023 marks the twentieth anniversary of former Illinois Governor George Ryan’s decision to grant clemency to every death row prisoner in Illinois, the largest blanket clemency in the modern era of the death penalty. It was a watershed …