Gov. Pat Quinn has granted 179 clemency requests after going through 604 petitions filed since 2008.

The Democrat issued a Christmas Eve statement saying he's also denied 425 petitions.

The list of grantees wasn't made available until four hours after the announcement. Quinn's office didn't explain the delay.

A Prisoner Review Board list shows clemencies granted are for crimes including identity theft.

Quinn still has roughly 3,000 petitions with weeks left before Republican Gov.-elect Bruce Rauner takes office.

Quinn inherited thousands of cases from predecessor ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Quinn's spokeswoman says he's nearly eliminated the backlog, but there's been a surge of new petitions.

Overall, Quinn has acted on nearly 4,000 clemency petitions, more than recent governors.

Those granted clemency underwent background checks. They can seek expungement of their convictions.