When state Sen. Kwame Raoul, D-13th Dist., decided to sponsor the Senate bill that pushed for abolishing the state’s death penalty he did so because he said the punishment is wrought with flaws.
When state Sen. Kwame Raoul, D-13th Dist., decided to sponsor the Senate bill that pushed for abolishing the state’s death penalty he did so because he said the punishment is wrought with flaws.
Jan. 11 the bill passed the Senate by a vote of 32 to 25 and it passed the House 60 to 54. It now awaits the governor’s signature to become law and Rauol and state Rep. Karen Yarbrough –– the bill’s sponsor in the Ill. House –– hope that he will sign the bill.
“I am confident Gov. Quinn will sign the bill into law. He is a man of conscience and I don’t think anyone can have a fair conscience knowing our death penalty has too many flaws to rely on it,” Raoul,, who sponsored Senate bill 3539, told the Defender.
Annie Thompson, a spokeswoman for Quinn, said he is still reviewing the bill and had no timetable when he will make a decision. The governor has 60 days from the bill’s passing to sign or veto it.
The senator added that he is pushing to end the death penalty because of the many flaws that exist that could cost innocent people their lives.
Former Gov. George Ryan put a moratorium on executions in the state in 2000.
But aside from flaws in the system, execution opponents point to cost as another driving factor.
“In the past seven years Illinois has spent $100 million on death penalty cases,” Yarbrough, D-7th Dist., told the Defender. “The death penalty does not deter crime so why continue with it?”
The Illinois Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty agrees that cost is a major reason for the need to end the death penalty.
“Our system allows for those on Death Row to spend years filing appeals. Justice needs e swift because the longer Death Row inmates fight their executions, the longer families must relive the nightmare,” said Jeremy Schroeder, executive director of the organization. “And we keep getting it wrong. Placing innocent people on Death Row. The only way to reform such a broken system is for the governor to repeal it.”
The Illinois Capital Litigation Fund was established in 2000, which is funded by tax dollars, and pays for death penalty cases.
However, in 2009 Quinn signed a bill overhauling the fund.
Illinois law now has tight restrictions for death penalty cases, so judges and lawyers must be certified by the state to handle death penalty cases, and mandates that lawyers must have at least five years experience in criminal litigation.
Mark Clements, 42, was 16 years old when he confessed to arson and murder. He spent 28 years in prison but was released in 2009 after it was determined that his confession, which was the only evidence presented at his trial, was coerced by Chicago police. Clements, through his organization Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, is among the many organizations urging Quinn to abolish the death penalty.
“If a person is killed they are getting off easy. But if they spend the rest of their life in prison, they suffer everyday,” Clements told the Defender. “Had it not been for Gov. George Ryan putting a temporary stop to the death penalty many innocent Black men would have been killed.”
They include Ronald Kitchen, who was exonerated in 2009 after spending 21 years in prison – 13 years on Death Row – for the 1988 slaying of two women and three children. And Leroy Orange, who spent 19 years in prison, after confessing to killing four people in 1985. Gov. Ryan would later pardon him in 2003.
Yarbrough added that there are 15 people currently on Death Row and should Illinois do away with the death penalty.
“The most appropriate thing at that point for the governor to do is commute their sentences to life in prison without the possibility of parole,” she said.
The West Side state representative said the number of inmates convicted and later found not guilty does not surprise her.
“As long as there is a human element in the process, there will always be mistakes,” she said. “I would like to see the death penalty (abolishment) expanded to the federal level too. The death penalty is not justice but revenge.”
In 2009 when Quinn first took office he continued the moratorium on executions until more reform options could be implemented.
Quinn could simply ignore the bill on his desk. If he takes no action, the bill automatically becomes law. If the bill becomes law Illinois would become the 16th state with no death penalty.
Copyright 2011 Chicago Defender
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