CHICAGO (AP) - Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner has granted five requests for clemency and denied another 59 petitions.
The Illinois Prisoner Review Board announced the latest actions on Tuesday.
The requests Rauner granted involved low-level drug and theft or burglary offenses. One case of possession of a controlled substance dated back to 1977. Another was a 2007 misdemeanor for unlawful possession or consumption of alcohol.
The Republican governor’s approval rate for clemencies has been far lower than his Democratic predecessor. Rauner’s office says each person who’s granted clemency has undergone a recent criminal background check through an Illinois law enforcement data system.
People whose clemency petitions are granted may go to court to try to have their criminal record expunged.
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