During his first 6 ½ years as governor, Phil Murphy has not issued a single pardon or act of clemency – the longest stretch in state history – but as he prepares to enter his final eighteen months in office, that could change.
The New Jersey Globe has learned that Murphy has scheduled a major announcement on June 19, which appears to be the first step.
He’ll launch a new clemency initiative that includes the appointment of a clemency advisory board to consider individual applications. He’ll also identify pardon and commutation application categories.
The announcement will be made at the Saint James A.M.E. Church in Newark.
Murphy has made no secret of his plans to move forward on pardons and clemencies before the end of his term.
He has defended his decision not to exercise his constitutional authority by noting that he released more than 5,000 people during the COVID-19 pandemic and that a law broadened an individual’s ability to expunge their criminal records.
Pardons and commutations began to slow down after Christine Todd Whitman won the governorship in 1993; Whitman was also the last governor to issue a reprieve from sentencing. During his 84 hours as acting governor in 2002, John O. Bennett III pardoned one of his campaign donors.
Murphy’s predecessor, Chris Christie, issued only clemencies between 2010 and 2016, but pardoned 38 individuals in 2017; 36 of them at the very end of his time in office.