Making the case for an improved and independent federal clemency process

Cynthia Roseberry, who testified this past week at a House hearing about clemency, has this extended Hill commentary on the topic under the headline "If applied equitably, clemency power can begin to fix damage caused by a broken system." Here are its closing passages:

The clemency process must be completely independent of the system employed to incarcerate millions of people.  A first step is an independent commission with representation from all stages of the criminal justice system, including those who are formerly incarcerated, prosecutors, defense lawyers, corrections experts, and members of the public with appropriate resources to review the inevitable deluge of petitions from the masses.  Independence would ensure that one actor could not put a thumb of the scales of justice, as is the case in our current system, where the same person who prosecuted the case in the Department of Justice has this power.

This commission would promulgate clear and equitable criteria for release.  Applicants would have notice of the evidence necessary to successfully support a petition for clemency. Newly incarcerated persons would have an incentive to immediately work to achieve necessary rehabilitation.  The general public would understand and believe that the system is just and broadly available, and not reserved for a privileged few under a secret process.

Paramount among the criteria would be the consideration of anyone suffering under a sentence because of a failure to retroactively apply reform.  If we, the people, determine that we are no longer willing to seek incarceration for certain acts, then those who were previously incarcerated for those acts must go free in order for equal justice under the law to have meaning. Categorical clemency could be granted, for example, to those serving enhanced sentences where the penalty no longer applies and for those serving long sentences because of a trial penalty after electing to exercise their constitutional right to trial. Although there is a mechanism for compassionate release, it is underutilized and when employed, release is often denied.  The clemency commission could be used to clear this backlog of the elderly or inform who deserves to be released.

The executive has the opportunity to remove the scourge of mass incarceration from our justice system.  That scourge informs one in three black boys born today that they can expect to be incarcerated.  That scourge prevents $80 billion from being spent on their education because it is being spent to incarcerate.  When historians look back on what we did during our watch, let them record that we were enlightened; may they extol the virtue of our quest for equal justice for all and may they marvel at the expediency with which it was achieved.