Illinois officially abolishes death penalty / commutes all sentences

[The_Lor]

I was living there when the moratorium was issued. Guess it's officially done away with now.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41991363...me_and_courts/

Quinn consulted with retired Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa and met with Sister Helen Prejean, the inspiration for the movie "Dead Man Walking."



Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan appealed directly to Quinn to veto the bill, as did several county prosecutors and victims' families. They said safeguards, including videotaped interrogations and easier access to DNA evidence, were in place to prevent innocent people from being wrongly executed.

But death penalty opponents argued that there was still no guarantee that an innocent person couldn't be put to death. Quinn's own lieutenant governor, Sheila Simon, a former southern Illinois prosecutor, asked him to abolish capital punishment.

[Doughboy213]

Yay! The death penalty is horrible. I mean why kill someone when you can pay for them to live out the rest of their miserable life in prison. Makes sense if you don't think about it

[FJDave]

Yay! The death penalty is horrible. I mean why kill someone when you can pay for them to live out the rest of their miserable life in prison.....

....and then parole them right back where they came from to continue their predation against their victims.

[Floyd_jones]

Please everyone knows people can change!

[Chomp]

Well I'm glad to see someone is thinking about all those poor, defenseless murderers.

[zr5667]

Yay! The death penalty is horrible. I mean why kill someone when you can pay for them to live out the rest of their miserable life in prison. Makes sense if you don't think about it

Once the legal costs are factored in, life isn't any more expensive than execution. I'm pretty ambivilant about the whole issue.

[phillydog07]

Well, I'll likely get flamed for this, but good. Go ahead and lock 'em up and throw away the key, but there is no need for capital punishment in the U.S.

[NJheat]

Life in prison is actually less expensive for the state than the costs associated with the death penalty; which is a reason a lot of states have been doing away with it. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29552692...me_and_courts/

I'd personally rather be put out of my misery than spend the rest of my life in prison.

[pulicords]

But death penalty opponents argued that there was still no guarantee that an innocent person couldn't be put to death. Quinn's own lieutenant governor, Sheila Simon, a former southern Illinois prosecutor, asked him to abolish capital punishment.

I guess the fact that there's no guarantee than "an innocent person" couldn't be sent to prison for ____ years or "life" means we shouldn't incarcerate people convicted of those crimes either? How much money is now going to be spent justifying life sentences, now that death penalty appeals aren't going to be an issue? How many more "lifers" are going to be released because it's less expensive to let them go after 30 years, 20 years, 10 years?

The same justifications used to dilute jury decisions before (in death penalty cases) will now be used to nullify serious penalties in "life" cases, making the term meaningless. The ultimate message: The "life" of the convicted offender isn't any less important than the "life" of the dead victim(s). Maybe, it will be deemed even more important, because the dead can't be rehabilitated and aren't costing us money (after they're buried).

[MD11pilot]

I guess the fact that there's no guarantee than "an innocent person" couldn't be sent to prison for ____ years or "life" means we shouldn't incarcerate people convicted of those crimes either?

You can always reverse a jail sentence but you cannot reverse an execution once it has been completed. I don't agree with abolishing the death penalty either but strict safeguards should be in place because once in a great, great, great while an innocent person does get put to death and the real criminal walks free. And even if the mistake is realized and the innocent person is released before being put to death they often have lost years of life in death row and may become very bitter towards LE and society itself.

[Iowa #1603]

Life in prison is actually less expensive for the state than the costs associated with the death penalty; which is a reason a lot of states have been doing away with it. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29552692...me_and_courts/

While technically true---------------------------it actually doesn't cost more for an execution.

All of the "costs" added to a Death penalty case is attorney fees..................................it just gets attorney's richer.

[Justsaying]

No don't kill them, let them out so they can kill anyone that ratted them out and the LEOs that arrested them, after its all their fault.

[pulicords]

You can always reverse a jail sentence but you cannot reverse an execution once it has been completed.

How can the state "reverse" time served in a non-death penalty case??? Obviously that's not any more of a possibility than bringing someone back to life and anyone unjustly convicted of a crime that serves times is going to be "very bitter towards LE and society" too. The point is: While the advent of DNA and other technologies can certainly do much to avoid miscarriages of justice, the standard of proof needed for any conviction is the same: Beyond a reasonable doubt. Obtaining a conviction for murder is just as difficult as obtaining convictions for lesser violations, but the necessary evidence for an imposition of a death sentence is even higher. Denying the family of a murder victim or society at large justice because of some vague possibility that the defendant is factually innocent is a false argument. No defendant should ever be convicted of a crime he/she didn't commit, but allowing those who have been convicted of capital crimes the ability to continue to kill at will (as a "lifer" or upon obtaining release) unnecessarily places society at risk.

There's probably a far greater potential for convicted murderers (with "special circumstances" enhancements) to kill other victims, than there is that such a conviction would unjustly result in the death of an innocent man.

[1042 Trooper]

Now that's two things I don't like about Illinois. The first is ruining our country.

[willowdared]

A list of exonerations in Illinois

http://www.law.northwestern.edu/wrongfulconvictions/exonerations/ilIndex.html