{ April 8th, 2012 }
April 6, 2012: Illinois Governor Quinn grants more Clemency and Pardon petitions

As an attorney whose focus is clemency, I was happy to hear Illinois Governor Pat Quinn granted 52 pardon petitions on Good Friday.

Gov. Quinn is known for granting clemency (commonly known as a pardon) around the holidays. If you look at his pattern, he generally grants pardons around the most-celebrated holidays, especially Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter.

Unfortunately, the Chicago Tribune is too lazy to study the Governor’s pattern; instead, its theory is . “Quinn tends to act on a slew of clemency requests right before busy holiday weekends, when there typically is less media scrutiny.”

Governor Quinn’s clemency and pardon decisions have little to do with politics and any fear of publicity; instead, his decisions are based on a belief that each petitioner has proved his or her case for a second chance. Additionally, he likes to give the extraordinary remedy at a time when people are already celebrating with their families.

There is still a backlog of petitions due to Governor Blagojevich’s departure from office but Governor Quinn is definitely making moves.Professor P.S. Ruckman’s blog www.pardonpower.com tracks governors’ pardons. In March of 2012, he stated “Quinn had acted on 1,735 petitions, denying 62 percent. The backlog, however, is at 2,553.”

A 38% grant-rate is actually very high, considering many petitioners had a little “chance” to begin with. A pardon is not just for someone who is still in prison or for someone who was convicted of a terrible crime. A pardon is also required for the person with almost any felony (there is a rare exception to this rule) for that they received probation and never went to prison.

If you have a good reason to argue you are a good candidate for a pardon, then I recommend you petition the governor and not focus on your “chances.”
<em>
Your chances are only as good as the quality of your request.</em>

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