Put the Cook County Public Defender’s office in the category of peop
le who gave something a nice effort, but never had a chance at being taken seriously.
Their “something” was the death penalty. The office that defends criminal defendants who can’t afford an attorney (they are entitled to legal representation, that’s the American Way) argued against capital punishment in Illinois by claiming they don’t have enough money to handle all the cases of indigent county jail inmates who are facing a possible death sentence.
THEY WOULD HAVE liked an abolition of the capital crimes statute in Illinois. But they were willing, they said earlier this week, to settle for having prosecutors in Cook County say they would not seek a death sentence against anyone.
At least not until the county budget situation gets squared away.
To that notion, the state’s attorney basically laughed. They argued in response that no one gets to tell the prosecutors what charges they seek against a defendant, and that a lack of money is not a good enough reason.
There are, they say, ways of juggling a government budget that would shortchange other services and cases handled by the public defender’s office – all to ensure that Illinois keeps up the appearance of having a viable death penalty.
IF IT SEEMS to you like I think the prosecutors for Cook County seem a little too determined to keep a capital crimes statute, you’d be reading me correctly.
The reality of the situation is that we don’t have a death penalty in Illinois. Executions are not being carried out, and not just because all of the condemned inmates in Illinois prisons are years away from having their mandatory criminal appeals run out and having a “death date” scheduled for their execution by lethal injection.
We still have the moratorium imposed by former Gov. George Ryan (be honest, that is a big part of why some people detest him as much as they do – regardless of how much they talk about “dead kids”), maintained by Rod Blagojevich and kept in place by Pat Quinn.
Even if someone were to have their legal appeals run their course (we’re likely about a decade from having that happen in Illinois), there still would be no execution scheduled.
THE REALITY OF our daily situation with the Illinois criminal justice system is that we have abolished the death penalty. It is not a daily reality. The sooner our General Assembly comes to its senses and changes law to reflect reality, the better off we’d be.
One reason we’d be better off is that death penalty cases do cost more money, both to the court system and to the Illinois Corrections Department. Condemned inmates have to be kept under higher security, and their appeals are all required.
The courts must hear them at every step. It’s all part of the safety mechanism we have to try to keep innocent people from actually being put to death.
Even at the trial stage, there are so many mandatory legal issues that must be heard (it’s not just a simple case of, “Did he do it?”) that the trials wind up costing more to conduct. The defense for such inmates is more expensive, unless a defense attorney tries to do a shoddy job (in which case, the inmate would win on appeal on grounds he had incompetent legal counsel at his trial).
THAT IS WHAT the public defender’s office tried arguing this week, only to have their concerns ignored. They can’t afford to properly defend the people whom they are being asked to represent at their death penalty trials.
To take the attitude that lack of money is not a good enough reason is so callous.
It almost comes across as someone who doesn’t particularly care if a criminal defendant gets a shoddy trial. Perhaps they think they have a “tough on crime” mentality by taking the side of the prosecution against the defense.
But I’d argue they’re setting the stage for a whole batch of defendants having their death sentences (if not their convictions outright) overturned.
THAT WOULD MEAN we’d have to re-do a whole batch of this year’s death penalty cases at some future date. That adds to the overall expense.
Out of fear of trivializing the issue, it kind of reminds me of what some people say when it comes to professional baseball and the constant struggle of low-budget teams competing against rich teams.
Back when players and teams in the 1970s set up the system of arbitration by which contract disputes were settled by a third party, one thing low-budget teams learned was that their “alleged” inability to pay big salaries was NOT considered a legitimate reason to hold back a talented ballplayer’s salary.
It sounds like the argument being offered up this week by officials of the state’s attorney’s office to reporter-types
THE END RESULT for baseball became a system where some teams perpetually stink because they have to get rid of any quality athletes they find because they can’t afford to keep them for the long-term.
While I realize the parallel isn’t perfect, I have to wonder if Cook County is destined to become the equivalent of the Kansas City Royals – a once-great team that can’t maintain anything for the long-term because they don’t have the money.
Not paying attention to finances causes some teams long-term problems. I’d hate to think the county criminal justice system will face similar situations because some people are determined to have the appearance of a death penalty.
-30-
EDITOR’S NOTE: Does new Rep. Mike Quigley, D-Ill., have the right idea (http://www.chicagopublicradio.org/Content.aspx?audioID=34632) when it comes to the death penalty in Illinois?
le who gave something a nice effort, but never had a chance at being taken seriously.Their “something” was the death penalty. The office that defends criminal defendants who can’t afford an attorney (they are entitled to legal representation, that’s the American Way) argued against capital punishment in Illinois by claiming they don’t have enough money to handle all the cases of indigent county jail inmates who are facing a possible death sentence.
THEY WOULD HAVE liked an abolition of the capital crimes statute in Illinois. But they were willing, they said earlier this week, to settle for having prosecutors in Cook County say they would not seek a death sentence against anyone.
At least not until the county budget situation gets squared away.
To that notion, the state’s attorney basically laughed. They argued in response that no one gets to tell the prosecutors what charges they seek against a defendant, and that a lack of money is not a good enough reason.
There are, they say, ways of juggling a government budget that would shortchange other services and cases handled by the public defender’s office – all to ensure that Illinois keeps up the appearance of having a viable death penalty.
IF IT SEEMS to you like I think the prosecutors for Cook County seem a little too determined to keep a capital crimes statute, you’d be reading me correctly.
The reality of the situation is that we don’t have a death penalty in Illinois. Executions are not being carried out, and not just because all of the condemned inmates in Illinois prisons are years away from having their mandatory criminal appeals run out and having a “death date” scheduled for their execution by lethal injection.
We still have the moratorium imposed by former Gov. George Ryan (be honest, that is a big part of why some people detest him as much as they do – regardless of how much they talk about “dead kids”), maintained by Rod Blagojevich and kept in place by Pat Quinn.
Even if someone were to have their legal appeals run their course (we’re likely about a decade from having that happen in Illinois), there still would be no execution scheduled.
THE REALITY OF our daily situation with the Illinois criminal justice system is that we have abolished the death penalty. It is not a daily reality. The sooner our General Assembly comes to its senses and changes law to reflect reality, the better off we’d be.
One reason we’d be better off is that death penalty cases do cost more money, both to the court system and to the Illinois Corrections Department. Condemned inmates have to be kept under higher security, and their appeals are all required.
The courts must hear them at every step. It’s all part of the safety mechanism we have to try to keep innocent people from actually being put to death.
Even at the trial stage, there are so many mandatory legal issues that must be heard (it’s not just a simple case of, “Did he do it?”) that the trials wind up costing more to conduct. The defense for such inmates is more expensive, unless a defense attorney tries to do a shoddy job (in which case, the inmate would win on appeal on grounds he had incompetent legal counsel at his trial).
THAT IS WHAT the public defender’s office tried arguing this week, only to have their concerns ignored. They can’t afford to properly defend the people whom they are being asked to represent at their death penalty trials.
To take the attitude that lack of money is not a good enough reason is so callous.
It almost comes across as someone who doesn’t particularly care if a criminal defendant gets a shoddy trial. Perhaps they think they have a “tough on crime” mentality by taking the side of the prosecution against the defense.
But I’d argue they’re setting the stage for a whole batch of defendants having their death sentences (if not their convictions outright) overturned.
THAT WOULD MEAN we’d have to re-do a whole batch of this year’s death penalty cases at some future date. That adds to the overall expense.
Out of fear of trivializing the issue, it kind of reminds me of what some people say when it comes to professional baseball and the constant struggle of low-budget teams competing against rich teams.
Back when players and teams in the 1970s set up the system of arbitration by which contract disputes were settled by a third party, one thing low-budget teams learned was that their “alleged” inability to pay big salaries was NOT considered a legitimate reason to hold back a talented ballplayer’s salary.
It sounds like the argument being offered up this week by officials of the state’s attorney’s office to reporter-types
THE END RESULT for baseball became a system where some teams perpetually stink because they have to get rid of any quality athletes they find because they can’t afford to keep them for the long-term.
While I realize the parallel isn’t perfect, I have to wonder if Cook County is destined to become the equivalent of the Kansas City Royals – a once-great team that can’t maintain anything for the long-term because they don’t have the money.
Not paying attention to finances causes some teams long-term problems. I’d hate to think the county criminal justice system will face similar situations because some people are determined to have the appearance of a death penalty.
-30-
EDITOR’S NOTE: Does new Rep. Mike Quigley, D-Ill., have the right idea (http://www.chicagopublicradio.org/Content.aspx?audioID=34632) when it comes to the death penalty in Illinois?
No comments:
Post a Comment