The Pardoning Power in the American States

e an open one or a closed one is a matter on which practice is not uniform. Open hearings are held in Alabama, Connecticut, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, , f North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, and Wisconsin. On the other hand closed hearings are held in Arkansas, , California, North Dakota, Oregon, and Wyoming. In Colorado the hearings are regarded as open but only interested parties may appear, the press and the curious public being excluded. The rules of the Iowa Board of Parole, which is also an advisory pardon board, provide for an open hearing but the chairman of the Board reports that they are closed. Massachusetts holds closed hearings except when the Board considers that the petitioner or the public may be benefited by an open session. In Ohio informal hearings are held. An open hearing is granted in Oklahoma if demanded by the parties resisting the granting of clemency. In Rhode Island the Parole Board, which deals only with applications for parole, is not required to hold either a public or a private hearing. Likewise the Tennessee Parole Board does not hold hearings since it is forbidden to receive communications or to hear arguments for or against the recommending of clemency. This latter statement also applies to the Texas Board of Prison Commissioners, which is a parole board. In West Virginia the pardon attorney is forb... --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.