The New York Legal Aid Society is urging Governor Kathy Hochul to pay immediate attention to the pending clemency applications in the state. In a statement released on Monday, the society expressed concerns regarding Governor Hochul’s relatively limited use of her commutation powers since she assumed office.
For our international audience, clemency is an executive power granted to some government officials, like the Governor in this case, that essentially allows them to reduce the punishment of a convicted individual. This can take the form of a pardon, commutation or reprieve.
It’s worth noting that clemency applications can be a complex and lengthy legal process often involving multiple judicial and executive parties. Despite this complexity, the New York Legal Aid Society believes further and more frequent use of this power is necessary in the state. The specifics of the society’s argument, including the number of pending applications and the desired frequency of commutation, were not detailed in the statement.
More details on the statement and the society’s calls can be found in the original article on Law360.