By J. Lyn Carl, GalleryWatch.com
Austin, TX –
"This is more than a system that's being broken - this is no system at all," said Tracy McCormack of Texas Appleseed in reference to clemency in the Texas criminal justice system.
McCormack and other officials of Texas Appleseed and the Texas Innocence Network today announced release of a report that reviews clemency in Texas and examines best practices in other states that led to numerous recommendations regarding clemency in Texas.
"This report isn't asking or demanding that Texas be a leader," said McCormack, "but it's asking that Texas adopt minimum standards at the very least."
Titled "The Quality of Mercy - Safeguarding Justice in Texas Through Clemency Reform," the report looked at 38 states that use a death penalty in their criminal justice systems. The findings and best practices were used for guidance and a foundation of recommendations to improve the justice system in Texas, said McCormack.
"Clemency does not happen in Texas, at least not for mercy," said McCormack, who said state leaders "pay lip service to a clemency process that doesn't really exist."
Clemency offers not just an additional look at the case, said the Texas Appleseed official, but also consideration of the humanity of the offender. The courts provide the system, she said, and clemency should provide the checks and balances on that system. "Justice and mercy have to go together," she said. "We cannot represent to the people of Texas that this safeguard for the innocent is in existence when in reality it's not."
McCormack said President George W. Bush said recently that he supports increasing confidence in the nation's criminal justice system. "We agree," she said, pointing out that clemency is a process "for the executive branch, not the courts."
McCormack said there should be a system in place to lessen, forgive or delay sentencing, saying Texas is "far outside the basic minimum standards." Some of the recommendations of the report, she said, include requiring the parole board to meet as a body and hold public hearings on all clemency proceedings, and to make board members subject to removal by the governor "only for cause."
Jarred Tyler of the Texas Innocence Network said the Board of Pardons and Paroles has relinquished its responsibility for studying the possibility of innocence. He pointed out that there are currently 150,000 individuals in Texas prisons. Tyler said that even if the convictions were correct 99 percent of the time, that could mean that tonight, there would still be "150 innocent men and women sleeping in a prison cell."
Texas Appleseed Board Member Jim George added, "We need system that allows the governor to have the authority to say, 'This one is wrong.'"
The report, said McCormack, is aimed at encouraging members of the Board of Pardons and Paroles and the Governor's Office "to ensure Texans have a system they can be proud of and that they deserve."