These commutation numbers are pitifully low compared to the more than 50,000 people held in prisons across New York State.
The New York State Constitution grants the governor power to pardon or commute any sentence, at any time, for any reason. Our campaign calls on Governor Cuomo to use the powers of his office to immediately free criminalized survivors of gender violence!
Source: All figures on clemency applications received from 2011-2015 and commutations granted were directly sourced from New York State. Cuomo’s Executive Clemency Bureau has refused to publicly release any data on clemency applications received after 2015. To represent the volume of applications received since 2016, S&P NY has used data on clemency applications published by journalist Reuven Blau in August 2019.