Full Text of HR1348 98th General Assembly
HR1348 98TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | HOUSE RESOLUTION
| 2 | | WHEREAS, Clemency has been authorized in the United States | 3 | | since the Constitutional Convention of 1787, when the clause | 4 | | granting the President the power to issue pardons and reprieves | 5 | | was first adopted as part of the United States Constitution; | 6 | | and
| 7 | | WHEREAS, The power to grant clemency in the State of | 8 | | Illinois has been in effect since the formation of the first | 9 | | Illinois State Constitution in 1818; and
| 10 | | WHEREAS, Clemency is defined by Black's Law Dictionary as | 11 | | mercy or leniency, usually used to describe acts of the | 12 | | President of the United States or a Governor of a state when | 13 | | pardoning a convicted criminal or commuting a sentence; and
| 14 | | WHEREAS, Clemency encompasses a number of forms of mercy by | 15 | | the executive and generally includes pardons, commutations of | 16 | | sentence, and reprieves, among others; and
| 17 | | WHEREAS, A pardon is an act of the executive power that | 18 | | mitigates the punishment demanded by the law for the offense | 19 | | and restores some or all of the rights and privileges lost as a | 20 | | result of the offense; and
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| 1 | | WHEREAS, A commutation of sentence occurs when the | 2 | | executive power changes the punishment of the convicted to one | 3 | | that is less severe; and
| 4 | | WHEREAS, A reprieve occurs when the executive power | 5 | | temporarily withdraws the sentence for the purpose of | 6 | | postponing the punishment; and
| 7 | | WHEREAS, Section 3-3-1 of the Unified Code of Corrections | 8 | | creates the Prisoner Review Board, the board of review and | 9 | | recommendation for the exercise of executive clemency by the | 10 | | Governor of Illinois; and | 11 | | WHEREAS, Section 3-3-13 of the Unified Code of Corrections | 12 | | states that petitions seeking pardon, commutation of sentence, | 13 | | or reprieve shall be addressed to the Governor in writing and | 14 | | signed by the person under conviction or by a person on his | 15 | | behalf, and filed with the Prisoner Review Board; and
| 16 | | WHEREAS, Petitions seeking pardon, commutation of | 17 | | sentence, or reprieve must include a brief history of the case, | 18 | | the reasons that the petitioner is seeking executive clemency, | 19 | | and other relevant information as required by the Prisoner | 20 | | Review Board; and
| 21 | | WHEREAS, The Prisoner Review Board shall, if requested and |
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| 1 | | upon due notice, give a hearing to each application, allowing | 2 | | representation by counsel, if desired, after which it shall | 3 | | confidentially advise the Governor by a written report of its | 4 | | recommendations, which shall be determined by majority vote; | 5 | | and
| 6 | | WHEREAS, The Governor shall decide each application and | 7 | | communicate his decision to the Prisoner Review Board, which | 8 | | shall notify the petitioner; and | 9 | | WHEREAS, In Illinois, Governor Pat Quinn has granted | 10 | | approximately 1,113 petitions for executive clemency and has | 11 | | denied approximately 1,934 petitions; and
| 12 | | WHEREAS, Currently, there remains an outstanding amount of | 13 | | undecided petitions that have been addressed to the Governor | 14 | | and filed with the Prisoner Review Board for review; therefore, | 15 | | be it
| 16 | | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | 17 | | NINETY-EIGHTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | 18 | | we urge the Prisoner Review Board to review any outstanding | 19 | | petitions for executive clemency with all deliberate speed and | 20 | | forward the appropriate written reports of its recommendations | 21 | | to the Governor; and be it further
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| 1 | | RESOLVED, That we urge the Governor of Illinois to decide | 2 | | each application and communicate his decision to the Board with | 3 | | all deliberate speed; and be it further
| 4 | | RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be | 5 | | delivered to the Chair of the Prisoner Review Board and | 6 | | Governor Pat Quinn.
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