ABA, other legal organizations call for more volunteers for Clemency Project 2014
The ABA’s Criminal Justice Section put out a call last week for more volunteers for Clemency Project 2014.
CP14, as it’s known for short, is an outgrowth of President Barack Obama’s call this year for sentence commutation petitions from offenders serving long “drug war” sentences. Offenders are eligible if, among other things, their sentences would be shorter today, they have served at least 10 years and they have no significant history of violence.
Thus far, nearly 21,000 prisoners have submitted petitions. The ABA’s Criminal Justice Section is one of several legal organizations working together to evaluate the petitions for eligibility. Once determined eligible, prisoners will be assigned a volunteer attorney to help throughout the clemency process. Because the project ultimately relies on presidential pardons, petitions must be ready by the end of Obama’s term in January of 2017. That means the petitions may be rushed compared to typical clemency petitions, which take two to seven years to get a response.
Though volunteers are already being matched with prisoners, the Criminal Justice Section newsletter called for more volunteers last week, echoing a call from Families Against Mandatory Minimums on Sept. 29. Volunteers complete a five-hour online training at their convenience and are immediately eligible to have a prisoner assigned. Organizers say volunteers do not have to be criminal defense attorneys, as long as they complete the training and can ask for help when it’s needed. Interested attorneys can find out more on the CP14 website.
To implement CP14, Deputy Attorney General James Cole asked members of the bar to provide help pro bono. In addition to the Criminal Justice Section and FAMM, organizations that responded include the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Federal Public and Community Defenders .
