Interdisciplinary Summer Class Demystifies Florida’s Clemency Process, Highlights Amendment 4 and Prompts Research involving Access to Voting in County Jails

With enthusiastic support from College of Social Work Dean Jim Clark and a team of other administrators and educators across campus, Professor Mark Schlakman, Esq., offered a unique virtual course during the summer 2020 semester -- Executive Clemency in Florida, to an interdisciplinary group of 54 students including undergraduate and graduate students from the College of Social Work and College of Social Science along with students from the College of Law.

Schlakman, senior program director for the FSU Center for the Advancement of Human Rights, sought to demystify executive clemency and how it relates to the executive branch of Florida’s government, the criminal justice system and the various disciplines the three colleges explore. “The class proved to be a highly effective vehicle to promote critical thinking and to correct several popular narratives that are not necessarily well-founded,” said Schlakman.

Executive clemency is sometimes confused with the current controversy surrounding Amendment 4 that has been playing out in federal court. Amendment 4 is the ballot initiative that nearly 65 percent of Florida voters approved in November 2018 that was designed to restore the right to vote for the majority of people with prior felony convictions except those convicted for murder or felony sexual offenses.

Executive clemency includes generally the power to pardon a person convicted of a crime, to commute or in other words shorten a sentence to be served and restore civil rights lost due to a felony conviction. Florida’s governor and the Florida Cabinet convene as Florida’s Board of Executive Clemency under the authority of Florida’s constitution and within the context of what can be a highly partisan environment – the Capitol, Schlakman explained. The Florida Cabinet includes Florida’s attorney general, commissioner of agriculture and consumer services, and chief financial officer – all elected statewide.

Before Amendment 4 passed, the governor and cabinet sitting as Florida’s Clemency Board had exclusive and complete discretion to restore eligibility to vote, serve on a jury and hold public office. Authority to own, possess or use firearms is also lost upon felony conviction and subject to restoration by the Clemency Board, but that traditionally has been handled separately given public safety implications.

For any of the several forms of executive clemency in Florida to be granted, whether pardons, commutations of sentence, restoration of civil rights or involving death penalty review, the governor must support and two of three Cabinet members must approve.

More than a dozen guest speakers visited during the interdisciplinary portion of the class on Zoom, including the following officials (law students ended a week later and had additional guest speakers):

• Leon County Supervisor of Elections Mark Earley,
• Sheriff Walt McNeil,
• Clerk of the Court and Comptroller Gwen Marshall,
• Commissioner and Chair of the Florida Commission on Offender Review Melinda Coonrod (the investigative arm of the Clemency Board),
• Kyle Troop who serves as chief cabinet and clemency aide for the Commissioner of Agriculture,
• State Attorney Jack Campbell and
• Public Defender Andy Thomas.

Circuit Judge Lynn Tepper from Pasco County, recently retired, emphasized her past role relating to trauma informed evaluation of cases involving women with murder convictions for killing their alleged abusers within the context of then-Battered Women’s Syndrome Clemency Review Panels established under Governor Lawton Chiles.

Former Chief Justice of Florida Harry Lee Anstead and William Michael Dillon, who served 27 years in state prison for a crime DNA evidence ultimately indicated he didn’t commit joined along with Seth Miller, executive director for the Innocence Project of Florida. Schlakman represented Dillon pro bono before the Clemency Board after he was exonerated when pursing a pardon, which the Clemency Board granted.

Reggie Garcia, a local criminal defense lawyer and clemency advocate joined with Jessica Yeary, president of the local chapter of the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (who prevailed in Florida’s recent Primary Election as a challenger to the incumbent for Public Defender in the Second Judicial Circuit) to discuss the role of criminal defense attorneys to advocate for their clients and their rights.

Each speaker provided invaluable insights and perspectives on executive clemency in Florida affording students access to such stakeholders that would have been elusive otherwise. Given the interdisciplinary nature of the class Dr. Hanna Hoover, a recent doctoral graduate from Florida State University in economics (Schlakman served on her committee), provided a perspective on the implications of Florida’s restrictive civil rights restoration polices that she addressed in her dissertation.

“Professor Schlakman’s appreciation for the timeliness of the topic, his understanding of the civil and human rights implications as well as the political nuances and his ability to eloquently present the issues have been invaluable,” said Elaine Webb, a social work graduate student who took the course along with several of her classmates from CSW.

Webb’s curiosity about related issues, in particular approaches to facilitate voter registration and access to voting in Florida’s county detention facilities has prompted the pair to conduct some preliminary research.

Most people detained or incarcerated in county jails are pre-trial or serving a misdemeanor sentence, so unlike those in state prison, have not lost their civil rights. Accordingly, the extent to which people detained or incarcerated at the local level in Florida (according to statistics approximately 45,000 this April) can exercise their right to vote is an issue that should be studied further, remarked Webb. It’s well established in law that such people should be afforded access to vote without governmental interference, added Schlakman

In an effort to raise public awareness, Schlakman coauthored an opinion editorial (op-ed) with Webb that was featured in a Sunday edition of the Tallahassee Democrat in July 2020, which prompted WFSU to interview this faculty-student team about their research, statewide and locally. Their interview aired on Capital Report on July 31. Abbreviated versions aired as local news stories in Tallahassee (WFSU) and various other Florida Public Radio markets (WJCT) around the state in early August.

From a social work perspective, Webb stressed the idea that “social workers are duty bound to promote social justice and to advocate for vulnerable people, regardless of circumstance. Advocating to ensure their fundamental civil rights are being honored is just one way in which social workers can fulfill their role.”

Schlakman and Webb intend to continue raising mainstream awareness regarding these issues which tend to be overshadowed by the aforementioned litigation involving Amendment 4.  “Widespread support for Amendment 4 in 2018 suggests Floridians care very much about voting rights, so focusing attention on the voting rights of individuals being detained at the local level is a natural progression,” suggested Elaine. “I think when more information becomes available, the public can evaluate how each county is doing in terms of facilitating access to voting, and with successes more visible, recognition can be given to those counties and successful approaches can be more easily replicated.”

In the upcoming fall 2020 semester, Webb will be pursuing a directed individualized study course in order to continue her research with Schlakman. They hope to leverage their results into meaningful outcomes, in terms of improving access to voting for detained individuals, through collaboration with key stakeholders.

“Those who are interested in this issue can start getting involved by asking questions and by letting the county officials know that they are paying attention,” concluded Webb. Several officials Webb has spoken to in other counties have expressed interest in knowing the approach taken by Leon County. In that regard, she said both Supervisor of Elections Earley and Sheriff McNeil have affirmed facilitating access to voting as a priority, which is consistent with research indicating a positive correlation between civil rights restoration – in this instance civic engagement, and a significant reduction in recidivism which seemingly should be in everyone’s best interests.