Celebrate! Illinois abolished the death penalty!

4 Responses to Celebrate! Illinois abolished the death penalty!

1. Francoise says:

   March 10, 2011 at 7:58 pm

   Where is the facebook like button ?

   Reply
2. Toshiba 2520cdt Battery says:

   March 10, 2011 at 9:14 pm

   Illinois has outlawed the death penalty! I am so happy they’re taking a step in the right direction. :)

   Reply
3. offshore corporation says:

   March 23, 2011 at 3:56 pm

   You may or may not have heard but the States Attorney for the Waterbury Judicial District and the man responsible for sending the most inmates to death row in CT has just resigned. Palmer also said that despite this limitation on the commissions inquiry it was prepared to take appropriate action with respect to the allegations against Connelly but that any such action has been rendered unnecessary by Connellys resignation. Now that may or may not mean anything about the action the commission was ready to take but it certainly does indicate that Connelly was to receive some form of rebuke separate from the Federal investigation. The disproportionate number of death sentences originating in Waterbury had been the driving force behind a lawsuit that is still pending..What this means for the state of the death penalty in Connecticut or for those who were tried by Connelly in capital and non-capital cases is anyones guess.

   Reply
4. trekker9er says:

   April 6, 2011 at 10:46 am

   Here in an article from the United Methodist Church are more reasons why to oppose the death penalty, including reasons of families victims of murders.

   He killed five students before killing himself. Among the dead was Ryanne Mace
   …

   Mary Mace, Ryanne’s mother, said she opposes the death penalty because it takes too much of taxpayer’s money and it keeps the offender’s name in the press.

   “It is a slap in the family’s face that he is getting all that attention,” she said. “The less attention the offender receives, the better. Let ‘em rot in jail is my opinion.”

   And for those who argue that the death penalty is a deterrent:

   “Illinois continues the thinking that the death penalty is really no longer necessary to provide public safety,” said Bill Mefford, director of civil and human rights at the United Methodist Board of Church and Society. Violent crimes have not increased in the states where the death penalty has been abolished, and some states with the death penalty have the highest murder rates, he added.

   And back to one of my two biggest reasons for no death penalty:

   [Governers] Ryan and Quinn both reached the conclusion that flaws in the system could lead to the death of an innocent person.

   Since 1977, Illinois has exonerated 20 people from death row, including Anthony Porter, who was just 48 hours away from his execution when lawyers won a stay to study whether he was mentally capable of killing. During that time, a group of Northwestern University students gathered information that proved his innocence.

   Porter’s case was the deciding factor for Ryan; Quinn referred to the 20 people exonerated as a pivotal factor for him as well.

   “That is a record that should trouble us all,” Quinn said. “To say that this is unacceptable does not even begin to express the profound regret and shame we, as a society, must bear for these failures of justice.”

   Reply