Gov. Greg Abbott pardons five Texans
AUSTIN -- In keeping with holiday tradition, Gov. Greg Abbott issued pardons to five Texans on Thursday.
Holiday season pardons have become an annual ritual for Texas governors. Typically, a handful of people are cleared of relatively minor offenses that occurred years in the past. It's an exercise criminal justice experts have criticized, saying the power to pardon would be better used to eliminate the criminal records of reformed felons who face a host of challenges re-entering free society because of their criminal background.
The high-water mark for pardons in recent years came in 2003, when Rick Perry, then the governor, issued pardons for 35 people from the West Texas town of Tulia after a court found that an undercover officer gave questionable testimony against them that may have been racially motivated.
Last year, in his first full year as governor, Abbott issued four pardons.
Read more: http://www.dallasnews.com/news/texas-politics/2016/12/22/gov-greg-abbott-pardons-five
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