Gov. Philip D. Murphy of New Jersey on Monday commuted the prison sentences of three women who had been abused and were convicted of killing their boyfriends — the first pardons of his two-term administration.
The governor’s decision to pardon the women and 33 other people who have already completed their sentences comes six months after Mr. Murphy, a Democrat, set up a clemency advisory panel to weigh offenders’ claims of either hardship or rehabilitation.
The women — Myrna Diaz, Dawn Jackson and Denise Staples — are expected to be released from prison by Wednesday, Mr. Murphy said.
“This is about the most momentous day I’ve had as governor,” Mr. Murphy said as he announced the pardons, adding, “We will have more days like this over the next 13 months. I promise you.”
Mr. Murphy took office in 2018 and has spoken regularly about inequities within the state’s criminal justice system. But unlike most of his predecessors, he did not use his office to grant pardons until late in his second term. (His administration did grant early release to thousands of prisoners during the Covid-19 pandemic, a step that helped to reduce the spread of the virus and drastically reduced the state’s prison population.)
“As we approach the final year of our administration, we will continue embracing a fair, impartial and balanced approach for granting legal relief to New Jerseyans who have earned a second chance,” the governor added Monday in a statement.
In June, Mr. Murphy set up the new panel to review clemency applications on an expedited basis. He said his goal was to give priority to those convicted of nonviolent crimes and offenders who had been victims of domestic or sexual violence or sex trafficking and were imprisoned after committing a crime against the perpetrator.
Justin Dews, chairman of the advisory board, said that the clemency panel would continue to review applications thoroughly and impartially. He said he hoped that New Jersey’s next governor would take a similarly dispassionate approach to clemency decisions, which are often viewed as politically risky.
“For the first time in our state’s history we can say that fairness and not favor is the guiding principle behind the governor’s clemency decisions,” said Mr. Dews, a lawyer with a New York-based firm who previously worked as a White House counsel.
He urged the 36 people who were granted either a commuted sentence or a pardon, which will erase their criminal records, to be model citizens.
“You’re the momentum,” he said, “so that whoever occupies this office next will see that clemency can be granted deliberately, fairly, early and consistently.”
The American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey has been a leading proponent of granting clemency by categories of crime, rather than only to individual offenders, as a way to streamline the process and address systemic injustice.
The A.C.L.U. represented each of the three women whose sentences were reduced Monday at certain points in their long quest for freedom. Ms. Diaz, 60, has served 14 years of a 40-year sentence; Ms. Jackson, 53, has served 25 years of a 30-year sentence; Ms. Staples, 63, has served 20 years of a 60-year sentence.
“The commutations that the governor granted today are for women who have a long, documented history of trauma, sex abuse and domestic violence,” Amol Sinha, executive director of the A.C.L.U., said.
“They were victims and survivors throughout their lives, and it’s necessary to make sure that we’re taking steps to correct the injustice that occurs when somebody acts out as a result of their trauma — or in self-defense.”
Loreale Wilson, Ms. Jackson’s adult daughter, said that her mother’s relentless determination was an inspiration to her.
“Today has given me the ability to understand what perseverance looks like, what it means to be resilient through difficult times, and to keep striving no matter what life may throw at you,” Ms. Wilson said.
Mr. Murphy is one of several Democratic governors to use their authority to target specific groups of offenders.
In 2022, Kate Brown, Oregon’s former governor, granted more than 40,000 pardons to people convicted of possessing a small amount of marijuana before 2016, when marijuana was legalized in Oregon. The governors of Massachusetts and Maryland have taken similarly sweeping steps to pardon people convicted of low-level charges related to marijuana use or possession.
The laws that legalized cannabis in New Jersey permitted the criminal records of hundreds of thousands of residents convicted of certain marijuana-related crimes to be administratively expunged, without a pardon.
Mr. Sinha said he hoped that Monday’s pardons were the start of a meaningful remedy to decades of mass incarceration.
“The governor has a year left,” Mr. Sinha said, “and he can do a lot of good in that year.”
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