[Editorial]  Keep Up the Reform Momentum

January 18, 2012

Former Gov. Haley Barbour's unprecedented spate of last-minute pardons brought numerous issues regarding some of Mississippi's antiquated customs into the glaring light of national media attention. The Department of Corrections' trusty system and the governor's ability to issue pardons and commutations in a virtual vacuum have received well-deserved criticism.

We commend Gov. Phil Bryant for announcing that he will end the antediluvian custom of having trustys work in the governor's mansion, even though his motivation might be somewhat less than altruistic. The controversy presents an opening for Bryant to endear himself to outraged constituents and to put some distance between the former governor and his fledgling administration.

Legislators re-introducing bills to add accountability to the governor's powers of pardoning are on the right track. The governor's office should have the responsibility to notify victims and hear their feedback. Legislators could go farther, and we urge them to do so. Many states add the checks and balances of a review panel, public hearings or parole board input. We urge them to continue down a bi-partisan path of reform in this area.

Attorney General Jim Hood gets a nod for prioritizing an investigation into the pardons, ensuring that Barbour at least followed the minimal requirements outlined in the Mississippi Constitution, and for stopping any pardons that didn't conform to that standard. We stand behind his efforts to nullify any pardons that did not meet these nominal safeguards.

We don't often sound the "we told you so" bell, but we would be remiss if we didn't point out that this is not the first opportunity to examine and rectify this archaic system. The Jackson Free Press investigated Barbour's 2008 trusty clemencies, showing that four of the five murderers released were killers of their intimate partners. Hood has yet to say whether he investigated those incidents then; he certainly did not hold press briefings if he did. Barbour's 2012 list at least doubles the number of domestic-violence murderers he set free.

Officials have a yet-to-be-seized opportunity to educate citizens about the dangers of domestic violence as well as repudiating Barbour's inaccurate phrase "crime of passion" within that context. The evidence of premeditation is extraordinarily high among the woman-killers Barbour pardoned, proving that these are crimes of power and control, not committed in the heat of the moment as that apologist phrase suggests.

This is also an opportunity for a hard look at all areas of Mississippi's justice system. It's too easy for prosecutors and judges to turn their backs on exculpatory evidence when they face no consequences. Too many people are spending excessive time behind bars for victimless crimes, and we feed too many of our children into the maw of a criminal system without hope of escape.

Don't wait for another crisis to right the scales of justice, Mississippi. We have momentum; let's use it.

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