In response to what it calls ​“a crit­i­cal and unmet need for edu­ca­tion and train­ing of both lawyers rep­re­sent­ing cap­i­tal pris­on­ers and deci­sion mak­ers who review peti­tions for clemen­cy,” the American Bar Association (ABA) has cre­at­ed a new web resource devot­ed to the clemen­cy process. The Capital Clemency Resource Initiative (CCRI) Clearinghouse — a joint project of the ABA Death Penalty Representation Project and Death Penalty Due Process Project — pro­vides tools and resources for clemen­cy deci­sion mak­ers, cap­i­tal defense attor­neys, and oth­ers inter­est­ed in the clemen­cy process. Misty Thomas, chief coun­sel for the Death Penalty Due Process Project, said that in every state death-penal­ty sys­tem the project stud­ied, ​“there were insignif­i­cant resources for and atten­tion paid to clemen­cy, leav­ing it … too hol­low to be com­fort­able for our pro­fes­sion.” The ABA does not take a posi­tion for or against cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment, but the sys­temic defects it found led the orga­ni­za­tion to call for a mora­to­ri­um on its use. “[I]f we’re going to have the death penal­ty,” Thomas said, ​“every sin­gle stage should be robust and mean­ing­ful,” includ­ing clemen­cy. As part of improv­ing the clemen­cy process, the Death Penalty Representation Project pre­pared a man­u­al for clemen­cy lawyers, Representing Death-Sentenced Prisoners in Clemency: A Guide for Practitioners, that com­ple­ments the oth­er resources on the CCRI web­site. But Laura Schaefer, staff attor­ney for the rep­re­sen­ta­tion project and the author of the man­u­al, said the project has a broad­er edu­ca­tion­al pur­pose as well. ​“One part of what we are try­ing to do is increase pub­lic under­stand­ing of the clemen­cy process in cap­i­tal cas­es … and how it’s sup­posed to catch wrong­ful sen­tences,” she said. Since 1976, clemen­cy in the form of par­dons or human­i­tar­i­an com­mu­ta­tions of sen­tence has been grant­ed to 287 death-row pris­on­ers in the United States. Illinois’s mass com­mu­ta­tion of 167 death-row pris­on­ers in January 2003 accounts for more than half of that total. Two death-row pris­on­ers—Thomas Whitaker in Texas and William Montgomery in Ohio — have been grant­ed clemen­cy so far in 2018. 

(Lorelei Laird, ABA launch­es clemen­cy infor­ma­tion clear­ing­house for death penal­ty cas­es, ABA Journal, April 2, 2018; American Bar Association, Capital Clemency Resource Initiative Clearinghouse.) See Clemency.

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