What is clemency?

The clemency process occurs only after all judicial proceedings have been completed. Jones has exhausted all his viable judicial proceedings and clemency is his only remaining option for living out his days in prison.  In Texas, a prisoner on death row can have his death sentence reduced to a sentence of life in prison if a majority of the Board of Pardons and Paroles recommends clemency to Governor Abbott, and the Governor agrees.

Clemency “is deeply rooted in our Anglo-American tradition of law and is the historic remedy for preventing miscarriages of justice where judicial process has been exhausted.” Herrera v. Collins, 506 U.S. 390, 411-412 (1993).  It is “a matter of grace entirely distinct from judicial proceedings.”  Harbison v. Bell, 556 U.S. 180, 192 (2009).