Illinois - House panel votes to abolish death penalty law



March 06, 2009,

By Kevin Lee
The Daily Journal Springfield Bureau
217-524-5797
SPRINGFIELD — Death row inmates may receive a reprieve from state 
lawmakers.

A bill that would abolish the death penalty in Illinois was endorsed 
Wednesday by a House committee on a 4-3 vote.

The bill’s sponsor, state Rep. Karen Yarbrough, D-Maywood, called for 
lawmakers to decide how Illinois punishes its worst criminals.

Gov. George Ryan gained international fame when he declared a 
moratorium on executions in January 2000 because of uncertainty over 
several death row cases. The moratorium has been extended by 
Governors Rod Blagojevich and Pat Quinn.

“I think it’s time to have this debate with the present governor 
extending the moratorium. We need to get to a place where we’re going 
to have a death penalty or we’re not,” Yarbrough said.

In January 2003, during his final days as governor, Ryan cleared the 
state’s death row when he commuted 167 death sentences and pardoning 
four inmates.

Ryan, a long-time Kankakee resident, is now in prison after being 
convicted on federal racketeering charges.

Quinn said last month that he supports the death penalty but was 
extending the moratorium to ensure the state would not execute an 
innocent individual.

Yarbrough said capital punishment was too great a decision for human 
beings.

“It’s not for us to decide. There’s another judge somewhere else that 
needs to make that decision,” she said.
State Rep. Shane Cultra, R-Onarga, said the threat of death penalty 
discourages criminal activity.

“I think that the death penalty, when used appropriately, is a 
deterrent. I think it’s something that this country needs, especially 
with heinous crimes,” he said.

Between 1977 and 2003, 12 individuals on death row were executed, and 
18 people were exonerated.

“We’ve actually set more people on death row free for innocence than 
we’ve executed,” said Jeremy Schroeder, executive director of the 
Illinois Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty.

State Rep. Lisa Dugan, D-Bradley, said she has not formed an opinion 
about capital punishment in part because of past problems with cases.

“My main concern is the fact that Illinois hasn’t gotten it right. I 
don’t even want to think about innocent people who could have been 
put to death — and who knows how many actually were,” she said.

There are 15 inmates on the state’s death row, all housed within 
Pontiac Correctional Center, state Department of Corrections 
spokesman Derek Schnapp said.

If the bill passes, those inmates would have their sentences 
adjusted, most likely to life imprisonment, depending on the crime.

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