For many survivors, the criminal legal system does not protect them. Instead, it punishes the very strategies they used to stay alive Clemency is often the last chance incarcerated survivors have to seek relief from lengthy sentences which do not reflect the full context of the circumstances that led to their criminalization. 

This handbook is written for the everyone interested in the clemency process, and how it can be used to seek relief for criminalized survivors. Its goal is to explain, in plain language, what clemency is, how the process generally works for criminalized survivors, the unique obstacles they face, and where to find trusted resources and organizations doing this work.