Day: June 5, 2014

In April, the U.S. Department of Justice announced a new initiative to encourage federal inmates who have committed low-level crimes to petition for executive clemency. Since the announcement, more than 16,000 prisoners have completed electronic surveys to apply for reduced sentences, and it’s likely that tens of thousands of additional surveys are in progress. Clemency Project 2014, a working group composed of lawyers and advocates from the Federal Defenders, the American Civil Liberties Union, Families Against Mandatory Minimums, the American Bar Association, and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL), is in the process of recruiting and organizing pro