Clemency and transferred its powers and duties to the Department of Public Welfare, to be exercised within the department by a Board of Pardon and Parole, consisting of the Superintendent of Pardon and Parole and two other persons within the department designated by the Director of Public Welfare. This, with the addition of field officers attached to the individual institutions, constitutes the present machinery for administering pardons and paroles.

It will be recalled that under the reorganization code now governing State departments, each director of a department is appointed by the governor, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, and holds his office during the pleasure of the governor. Under the same law, the Superintendent of Pardon and Parole is appointed by the director of the department of public welfare and holds his office during the pleasure of the director. Under present conditions, therefore, the maximum term of which any assurance can be afforded to the members of the Board of Pardon and Parole is two years, and at any time within that period they are subject to immediate removal at the pleasure of the director, who in turn is subject to the same possibility by action of the governor. Such an arrangement can hardly fail to create great difficulty in securing experienced and qualified persons, and in addition makes it very likely that frequent changes in personnel will take place. Under such circumstances the effort to build up and maintain higher standards cannot but be seriously handicapped.

At present the functions imposed upon the Board of Pardon and Parole are limited to passing judgment upon the applications which come before it. It is not responsible for supervision of pardoned or paroled prisoners to see that conditions attached to the pardon or parole are properly enforced. It has no field staff to provide it with information as to the home, industrial, and community conditions into which a pardoned or paroled prisoner will return. Without such a staff, and also without adequate records, it is entirely unreasonable to expect the board to perform its duties effectively. The natural effect, furthermore, of depriving the board of all responsibility for enforcement of conditions attached to pardons and paroles is to make the board more liberal, or even lax, in granting releases. A board whose members were not conscientious might easily allow its policy to degenerate into a "turn-'emloose" process, with serious results to the public.

HOW THE PARDONING POWER HAS BEEN EXERCISED

An analysis of available official records was made to obtain whatever information might be afforded by them. For what they may be worth,

the results are given in the following statements of fact, the interpretation of which, unless stated, is left to the reader.

Number Granted

During the period from July 1, 1899, to June 30, 1921, 837 pardons and commutations were granted by the governors, an average of 38 a year. The number of pardons and commutations granted each year, together with the average daily population of the Ohio penitentiary, are given in Table 1. The number granted in the last eight years, according to the table, slightly exceeds the number granted in the preceding fourteen years. The average number granted during the first fourteen years was 29, or 1.8 per cent. of the average annual population of the penitentiary; the average number granted during the last eight years was 54, or 2.9 per cent. of the average annual population of the penitentiary.

TABLE 1.-AVERAGE DAILY POPULATION OF THE OHIO PENITENTIARY AND NUMBER OF RELEASES THEREFROM BY EXECUTIVE PARDON OR COMMUTATION BY FISCAL YEARS ENDING JUNE 30, 1900, TO 1921 INCLUSIVE2

Attention is drawn to the fluctuation shown in Diagram 1 in the number of pardons and commutations granted from year to year. The highest number in any one year was 75, in 1914; the lowest was 20, in

'The word "year," as used in these statements, means "twelve months ending June 30."

This table was compiled from State records which are available only for the fiscal year ending June 30. Figures given will, therefore, not agree with the figures given in other tables which cover the twelve months beginning with the second Monday of January, when the governor takes office.

1907. For the three successive years, 1912, 1913, 1914, the numbers ran respectively 22, 41, 75. A satisfactory explanation of such variation is not evident.

Nearly two-thirds of the cases of executive action are pardons, the remainder being commutations. From January 11, 1915, to January 10, 1921, 258 pardons and 135 commutations were granted by the respective governors. Of the total of 393, 240 were conditional and 153 unconditional.

Diagram 1.-Comparison of Numbers of Releases Granted from Year to Year.

Offenses Pardoned

Of the 393 pardons and commutations granted in the last six years, 158 were granted to persons who had been convicted of murder, manslaughter, assault, shooting or cutting to kill, or maiming. For firstdegree murder there were 31, and for second-degree murder, 89. Of the same 393, 160 were to persons who had been convicted of offenses against property, and 24 were for sexual crimes.

During the ten years 1900 to 1909 inclusive, 93 commitments for first-degree murder were received at the Ohio penitentiary, of which 41 were terminated by pardon, commutation, or parole before November 15, 1921. During the same period 118 second-degree commitments were received, of which 94 were terminated by pardon, commutation, or parole before November 15, 1921. Of the total 211, 135, or 64 per

cent., were released before November 15, 1921, on which date only nine of the 211 remained in the penitentiary.

Table 2 is the distribution of releases in the last six years by types of offense and by kinds of official action taken.

TABLE 2.-NUMBER OF OFFICIAL ACTIONS TAKEN, JANUARY 11, 1915, TO JANUARY 10, 1921, CLASSIFIED BY PRINCIPAL OFFENSES AND KIND OF ACTION

TIME SERVED

Table 3 classifies releases for six years by sentences and time served. This table shows that:

1. The 384 individuals who received the 393 pardons and commutations during the six-year period intensively studied served an average of 3 years, 4 months, and 26 days each. The longest time of 23 years, 8 months, and 6 days was served by a prisoner sentenced to life; the shortest time of 16 days was served upon a one to three-year sentence. TABLE 3.-RELEASES, JANUARY 11, 1915, TO JANUARY 10, 1921, CLASSIFIED BY SENTENCES AND AVERAGE TIME SERVED1

1 During this period the governor granted 393 pardons and commutations, but nine prisoners received clemency two different times.