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Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles

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The Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles is a 5-member committee authorized to grant paroles, pardons, reprieves, remissions, commutations, and, according to the Board's website, "to restore civil and political rights". Created by Constitutional amendment in 1943, it is part of the executive branch of Georgia's government.

The current chair of the Board is L. Gale Buckner, who began her term on 1 January 2005 and will end her term on 31 December 2011.[1]

History

The Board was established in 1943, by Constitutional law.

Parole and Clemency

The Board is the primary authority in Georgia assigned the power to grant pardons, paroles, and other forms of clemency. Parole is the discretionary decision of the Board to release a certain offender from confinement after he or she has served an appropriate portion of a prison sentence. Persons on parole remain under state supervision and control according to conditions which, if violated, allow for re-imprisonment.

Clemency is given by the Board at its discretion. The Board is the primary Georgian authority with the ability to commute death sentences (the Supreme Court of Georgia also has this authority). Georgia is one of the three states where its governor does not have the authority to grant clemency, although he retains indirect influence by virtue of his power to appoint Board members.

The Board falls under the jurisdiction of the Georgian Supreme Court, and, as such, its rulings can be overturned by the Court.

Troy Davis case

The Board has been the subject of much media attention due to its conflicting decisions in the death row case of Troy Anthony Davis, an African-American sports coach who was convicted in 1991 of murder based solely on now-discredited eyewitness identification, and has steadfastly claimed throughout the years that he was wrongfully convicted of the crime.

Troy Davis's case has been the subject of media attention across the world due to the fact there was no physical evidence: no murder weapon or DNA forensics, recantations by the majority of the original trial witnesses: seven of the original nine non-police witnesses officially recanted their testimony under sworn affidavits, and multiple other mitigating factors of Davis's guilt, including the indictment by three of the original trial witnesses that another man, Sylvester "Redd" Coles, is the real perpetrator.

It was the Board who stayed Mr. Davis's scheduled execution of July 17, 2007, but a year later, refused to again stay the execution which was now planned for September 23, 2008. However, the Supreme Court of the United States convened an emergency hearing on whether or not to issue a stay, and decided to stay the execution, just two hours before the planned execution. When later considering whether to have a complete retrial, the Supreme Court denied certiorari, and allowed the State of Georgia to acquire a new death warrant for Mr. Davis, for a new execution date of October 27 2008. There are currently grassroots efforts, including by Amnesty International, to again prevent this third attempt at execution.

On October 24, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit issued a stay of execution, pending a decision on Davis' federal habeas corpus petition.

Criticism

The Fairness for Prisoners' Families organization has levelled heavy criticism at the Board and similar Georgian authorities, although it notes that the symptoms it criticizes may not necessarily be intentional.

Intentionally or not, the Georgia Department of Corrections, the State Board of Pardons and Paroles, and the rest of Georgia's criminal justice system train prisoners and their families to see themselves as alone and powerless. Prisoners and their families are trained to think they don't deserve to be heard. They come to believe that no one cares about the injustices they face. They hear their own elected representatives say, "There's no constituency for prisoners' issues."

References

  1. ^ "Board Members". Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles. 2008-08-21. Retrieved 2008-10-19.

See also