Invoking the name of Abraham Lincoln and the horrors of slavery may get the attention of some people, but it is not likely t
o boost abolition of the death penalty from its new status as one of the perennial issues that confront the Illinois General Assembly.
The Illinois State Bar Association this weekend approved a resolution saying it will put its muscle behind efforts to eliminate the capital crimes statutes in Illinois. That ensures the issue will be heard every year.
YET THE FEAR that many legislators feel of offending hometown voters when it comes to the death penalty will ensure that capital punishment abolition will fall into the same category as development of a new casino in Chicago or a new airport in the suburbs – lots of talk every year, but little to no action.
So the association of attorneys from across Illinois can cite Lincoln’s name all they want. Too many political people will fear that their support for abolition will be seen as a vote against a person whose family suffered from a violent crime.
Too many people won’t see the association’s connection between slavery and the death penalty, which legal officials say both involve, “basic human rights.”
How unwilling are the members of the Illinois General Assembly to touch the death penalty?
CONSIDER THAT THE reason former Gov. George Ryan felt compelled to impose a moratorium on executions in Illinois and to commute the sentences of about 160 death row inmates to natural life prison terms was that the Legislature did not want to consider measures that might reform the capital crimes statutes by adding provisions that would further ensure that criminal appeals were heard.
There’s also the task force created by Illinois government in the early 2000s to figure out how to provide a significant overhaul of the death penalty to prevent mistakes from being made. The commission ultimately came up with 85 recommendations – most of which have been ignored and none of which have actually been implemented into state law.
Since reforms are not likely, the bar association figures that it is going to have to push for outright abolition of executions in Illinois, even though the state has not put anyone to death since 1999, when Andrew Kokoraleis died as punishment for a slaying in the suburbs of DuPage County.
The bar association took up the issue, with many of its members citing evidence that it is impossible to create a capital crimes statute that will never penalize a person who was not guilty of the crime for which they were convicted.
IN THE CASE of a death sentence, the penalty is irrevocable, even more so than someone who loses a decade or two of their life to a prison sentence.
“The application of the death penalty in Illinois has been demonstrated to be flawed beyond any doubt,” the association’s new president, Jack Carey, said, in a prepared statement.
“Our position is that the death penalty is not fixable and should be discontinued,” Carey said. “To do otherwise would invite the grossest miscarriage of justice imaginable, the death of an innocent person.”
The association made their decision at their gathering in St. Louis after allowing advocates both for and against the death penalty to speak. DuPage County State’s Attorney Joseph Birkett, who has been an outspoken proponent of resuming executions in Illinois, was one of those who spoke to the association.
IT IS GOOD to see the bar association take some action on the issue, even if real action is not likely to come for many years. The status quo of the death penalty in Illinois has become absurd.
Ryan, on his final weekend in office in January 2003, emptied death rows. But his executive clemency powers did not give him the authority to do away with the death penalty.
The capital crimes statutes still exist, and 15 men have received death sentences during the past four years. Of course, none of those have an actual execution scheduled (one committed suicide last month), as they are undergoing the mandatory rounds of appeals and the moratorium on execution imposed by Ryan remains in effect.
THOSE MEN REMAIN in legal limbo, sitting in their prison cells waiting either to die or for a chance in political mood for a day when a gubernatorial whim would allow the state to resume use of lethal injection to put people to death as criminal punishment.
Or, for the day when the Legislature is forced to accept the fact that we already unofficially have did away with the death penalty in Illinois. Bringing back executions would be perceived by the world as a step backward.
But remaining in a piddly legal status with one foot in the world of “Wild West justice” and the other in the “21st Century” makes Illinois look even more ridiculous.
-30-
EDITOR’S NOTES: Since the Illinois Legislature has been unwilling to reform the death penalty (http://www.isba.org/newscenter/releases/2008/deathpenalty6-08.pdf), the state bar association figures it might as well go for abolition.
Of the roughly 35,000 members of the Illinois State Bar Association, just over 200 actually voted (http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-il-deathpenalty-lawy,0,2292865.story) on the measure to push for abolition of executions in Illinois.
Gov. Rod Blagojevich is not in any hurry to undo a moratorium on executions in Illinois, but (http://www.khqa.com/news/news_story.aspx?id=152457) he also has proposed cuts to state programs that are considering reforms of the state capital crimes statute.
o boost abolition of the death penalty from its new status as one of the perennial issues that confront the Illinois General Assembly.The Illinois State Bar Association this weekend approved a resolution saying it will put its muscle behind efforts to eliminate the capital crimes statutes in Illinois. That ensures the issue will be heard every year.
YET THE FEAR that many legislators feel of offending hometown voters when it comes to the death penalty will ensure that capital punishment abolition will fall into the same category as development of a new casino in Chicago or a new airport in the suburbs – lots of talk every year, but little to no action.
So the association of attorneys from across Illinois can cite Lincoln’s name all they want. Too many political people will fear that their support for abolition will be seen as a vote against a person whose family suffered from a violent crime.
Too many people won’t see the association’s connection between slavery and the death penalty, which legal officials say both involve, “basic human rights.”
How unwilling are the members of the Illinois General Assembly to touch the death penalty?
CONSIDER THAT THE reason former Gov. George Ryan felt compelled to impose a moratorium on executions in Illinois and to commute the sentences of about 160 death row inmates to natural life prison terms was that the Legislature did not want to consider measures that might reform the capital crimes statutes by adding provisions that would further ensure that criminal appeals were heard.
There’s also the task force created by Illinois government in the early 2000s to figure out how to provide a significant overhaul of the death penalty to prevent mistakes from being made. The commission ultimately came up with 85 recommendations – most of which have been ignored and none of which have actually been implemented into state law.
Since reforms are not likely, the bar association figures that it is going to have to push for outright abolition of executions in Illinois, even though the state has not put anyone to death since 1999, when Andrew Kokoraleis died as punishment for a slaying in the suburbs of DuPage County.
The bar association took up the issue, with many of its members citing evidence that it is impossible to create a capital crimes statute that will never penalize a person who was not guilty of the crime for which they were convicted.
IN THE CASE of a death sentence, the penalty is irrevocable, even more so than someone who loses a decade or two of their life to a prison sentence.
“The application of the death penalty in Illinois has been demonstrated to be flawed beyond any doubt,” the association’s new president, Jack Carey, said, in a prepared statement.
“Our position is that the death penalty is not fixable and should be discontinued,” Carey said. “To do otherwise would invite the grossest miscarriage of justice imaginable, the death of an innocent person.”
The association made their decision at their gathering in St. Louis after allowing advocates both for and against the death penalty to speak. DuPage County State’s Attorney Joseph Birkett, who has been an outspoken proponent of resuming executions in Illinois, was one of those who spoke to the association.
IT IS GOOD to see the bar association take some action on the issue, even if real action is not likely to come for many years. The status quo of the death penalty in Illinois has become absurd.
Ryan, on his final weekend in office in January 2003, emptied death rows. But his executive clemency powers did not give him the authority to do away with the death penalty.
The capital crimes statutes still exist, and 15 men have received death sentences during the past four years. Of course, none of those have an actual execution scheduled (one committed suicide last month), as they are undergoing the mandatory rounds of appeals and the moratorium on execution imposed by Ryan remains in effect.
THOSE MEN REMAIN in legal limbo, sitting in their prison cells waiting either to die or for a chance in political mood for a day when a gubernatorial whim would allow the state to resume use of lethal injection to put people to death as criminal punishment.
Or, for the day when the Legislature is forced to accept the fact that we already unofficially have did away with the death penalty in Illinois. Bringing back executions would be perceived by the world as a step backward.
But remaining in a piddly legal status with one foot in the world of “Wild West justice” and the other in the “21st Century” makes Illinois look even more ridiculous.
-30-
EDITOR’S NOTES: Since the Illinois Legislature has been unwilling to reform the death penalty (http://www.isba.org/newscenter/releases/2008/deathpenalty6-08.pdf), the state bar association figures it might as well go for abolition.
Of the roughly 35,000 members of the Illinois State Bar Association, just over 200 actually voted (http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-il-deathpenalty-lawy,0,2292865.story) on the measure to push for abolition of executions in Illinois.
Gov. Rod Blagojevich is not in any hurry to undo a moratorium on executions in Illinois, but (http://www.khqa.com/news/news_story.aspx?id=152457) he also has proposed cuts to state programs that are considering reforms of the state capital crimes statute.
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