Minnesota Agencies

The Board may grant pardons, commutations, and pardons extraordinary to applicants. The board must meet at least two times each year to consider and vote on clemency applications. At each meeting, the board must render a decision on each clemency application considered at the meeting or continue the matter to a future board meeting. If the board continues consideration of an application, the commission must notify the applicant in writing and explain why the matter was continued.

The Board is required to file a written report with the Minnesota Legislature by February 15 of each year containing the following information: the number of applications received by the board during the preceding calendar year for pardons, pardons extraordinary, and commutations of sentence, the number of applications granted by the board for each category, and the crimes for which the applications were granted by the board, the year of each conviction, and the age of the offender at the time of the offense.

In 1895, the legislature proposed a constitutional amendment to take pardoning power from the governor and to confer it on a pardon board (Laws of Minnesota 1895, chapter 2). The constitutional amendment passed with strong support in the 1896 general election and was codified in Laws of Minnesota 1897, chapter 23. 

Laws of Minnesota 2023, chapter 52, article 8, section 3 made changes to the Board of Pardons and established a Clemency Review Commission. Beginning July 1, 2024, the Clemency Review Commission must begin reviewing applications for pardons, commutations, and reprieves in accordance with Minnesota Statutes, chapter 638. By July 1, 2024, the commission must develop application forms in consultation with the board.

Prior to May 19, 2023, pardons could be granted only by a unanimous vote of the three members of the board. Now a petitioner needs to receive only two of the three votes, provided one is the governor.

3 members: The board consists of the governor, the chief justice of the supreme court, and the attorney general. It meets twice yearly, and the meetings are open to the public.