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Commuting Life Without Parole Sentences: the Need for Reason and Justice Over Politics

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Commuting Life Without Parole Sentences: the Need for Reason and Justice Over Politics Fordham Law School FLASH: The Fordham Law Archive of Scholarship and History SJD Dissertations Academics Spring 5-1-2015 Commuting Life Without Parole Sentences: The Need for Reason and Justice over Politics Jing Cao Fordham University School of Law Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/sjd Part of the Criminal Law Commons Recommended Citation Cao, Jing, "Commuting Life Without Parole Sentences: The Need for Reason and Justice over Politics" (2015). SJD Dissertations. 1. https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/sjd/1 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Academics at FLASH: The Fordham Law Archive of Scholarship and History. It has been accepted for inclusion in SJD Dissertations by an authorized administrator of FLASH: The Fordham Law Archive of Scholarship and History. For more information, please contact [email protected]. COMMUTING LIFE WITHOUT PAROLE SENTENCES: THE NEED FOR REASON AND JUSTICE OVER POLITICS By Jing Cao A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of Fordham University School of Law in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Juridical Science March, 2015 Fordham University New York, New York COMMUTING LIFE WITHOUT PAROLE SENTENCES: THE NEED FOR REASON AND JUSTICE OVER POLITICS Abstract In the last thirty years, life without parole (LWOP) sentences have flourished in the United States. Of course the very reason for a LWOP sentencing scheme is to incarcerate the convicted defendant until death. But under the Pardon Clause of the Constitution, as well as under state laws granting the Governor the pardoning power, inmates serving LWOP sentences might be eligible for early release by commutations.1 On the one hand, the possibility of clemency could be regarded as an impermissible loophole that could be used on a case-by-case basis to undermine the certainty of a LWOP sentencing system. On the other hand, those who are concerned about prison overcrowding, and those who want to reward a prisoner who has rehabilitated himself, would certainly favor the increasing use of clemency to provide early release for many LWOP inmates. This dissertation tests whether commuting LWOP sentences is a fair early release procedure. This dissertation will also provide suggestions on how to regulate the commutation power as applied to LWOP inmates so as to make it consistent with the principles behind a LWOP sentencing scheme. This dissertation concludes that while commuting LWOP sentences can be justified under certain circumstances, the application of commutation in many American jurisdictions is arbitrary and inconsistent with the premises of LWOP. The dissertation provides suggestions for bringing more fairness into the commutation process as applied to LWOP inmates. 1 U.S.C.A. CONST. Art. II, § 2, cl. 1. The clause provides: “The President … shall have Power to Grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offenses against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.” ii Table of Contents Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 1 I. Commuting LWOP Sentences .................................................................................... 3 A. LWOP Sentencing in America ............................................................................................ 3 1. Prior to the Late 1960s: No Gradation of LWOP Sentences ............................................. 3 2. Schick v. Reed: Commuting the Death Penalty to a LWOP Sentence ............................ 4 3. The 1970s: Emergence of LWOP Sentences as An Alternative to the Death Penalty .................................................................................................................................................................. 5 4. The Sentencing Reform Era: Expanding the Applicability of LWOP Sentences ....... 8 5. From the 1980s: Increasing Imposition of LWOP Sentences ....................................... 14 B. Commutation: A Form of Clemency .............................................................................. 17 1. Prior to the Late 18th Century: Development of Pardoning Power .......................... 20 2. From the Late 18th Century to the Mid-19th Century: Emergence and Constitutionality of Commutation ......................................................................................................... 21 3. The Use of Commutation ............................................................................................................. 22 4. Summary: the Decline of the Use of Commutation and Its Possible Explanation 26 C. Data on Commutations of LWOP Sentences .............................................................. 27 1. Before the 1970s: Commutation Used as Parole to Release Parole-Ineligible Life Inmates .............................................................................................................................................................. 27 2. After the 1970s: the Decline in Commuting LWOP Sentences ..................................... 28 3. Increasing Commutation Applications From LWOP Inmates in the Future ........... 31 II. Commuting LWOP Sentences: Undermining the LWOP Sentencing Scheme? ..................................................................................................................................... 34 A. Diminished Certainty of LWOP Sentencing Caused by Commutation .............. 34 B. The Rationale for --- and Limitations on --- LWOP Sentencing ........................... 36 1. Murder Cases: Retribution and Deterrence ......................................................................... 37 2. Habitual Offenders: Deterrence and Incapacitation......................................................... 38 3. Drug Laws: Deterrence and Retribution ............................................................................... 40 C. The Rationale and Development of Parole ................................................................ 41 1. Basis of Parole: Rehabilitation .................................................................................................. 41 2. Early Stages: Failed Application of Rehabilitative Ideal Under Unconstrained Parole Scheme ................................................................................................................................................ 42 3. Changes to the Parole System to Employ the Rehabilitative Ideal ............................. 43 4. Sentencing Reform Era: Modern Challenges and Elimination of Parole .................. 44 5. Modern Parole System: Moderate Application of Rehabilitative Ideal .................... 46 D. Rationales for Commutation ........................................................................................... 47 1. Justice-Enhancement .................................................................................................................... 47 2. Utilitarian Use of Clemency ........................................................................................................ 52 3. Redemptive Use of Clemency .................................................................................................... 52 4. Disuniformity in Application of Standards for Issuing Clemency .............................. 53 E. The Tension Between Certain Grounds for Commutation and a LWOP Sentence ............................................................................................................................................... 56 III. The Need for a System of “Guided Discretion” in Commuting LWOP Sentences .................................................................................................................................. 60 A. Commuting LWOP Sentences: An Unfettered Discretionary Power ................. 60 B. The Historical Trend Toward Guided Discretion in Sentencing ........................ 63 1. Wide Judicial Discretion in the Indeterminate Sentencing Era ................................... 63 iii 2. Limiting Judicial Discretion in the Sentencing Reform Act ........................................... 64 3. Advisory Sentencing Guidelines After Booker ................................................................... 67 C. Guided Discretion: The Cornerstone of Fair Sentencing ....................................... 69 1. Definition and Premise ................................................................................................................. 69 2. Guided Discretion: An Approach That Better Promotes Consistency in Sentencing, Without Sacrificing Individualized Sentencing ........................................................ 71 3. Guided Discretion: An Approach that Better Guarantees Proportionality ............ 73 D. The Need for a “Guided Discretion” Scheme in Commuting LWOP Sentences ................................................................................................................................................................. 79 IV. Guidelines for Commuting LWOP Sentences ................................................. 81 1. Grounds for Commutation ............................................................................................... 81 1.1 Excessive Punishment ................................................................................................................ 81 1.2 Battered Woman Syndrome .................................................................................................... 83 1.3 Substantial Assistance to
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