This week, we want to share with you some talking points that you can use when speaking to people about why it's time for Illinois to repeal the death penalty.

The time for repeal is now. It’s become clear in 10 years of a moratorium that the death penalty system is still broken and it can not be fixed. The death penalty is a public policy that risks executing the innocent, fails to meet the needs of murder victims’ families, and costs millions of dollars more than alternatives.

We Make Mistakes. There have been 20 men exonerated from Illinois’ death row after evidence of their innocence emerged. This is the second highest exoneration rate in the nation. It is clear we can not guarantee that our death penalty system will not make a fatal mistake and take an innocent life.

Too Expensive. Since it’s creation in 1999, we’ve spent well over $100 million dollars on the Capital Litigation Trust Fund. We can’t afford to spend millions on the death penalty when other vital services are being cut.

Ignores the Needs of Murder Victims’ Families. While victims’ services in Illinois are underfunded, which hurts all murder victims, we spend millions of dollars on a death penalty system that affects less than 1% of murders. Those victims’ families that have capital cases endure excessively long and publicized trials then are forced to wait for years and years for an execution – if one comes at all.

Doesn’t Stop Crime! In a 2009 National survey, police chiefs ranked the death penalty dead last in terms of effective tools to prevent violent crime. Study after study shows the death penalty does not deter crime. If we’re serious about stopping crime, we should invest in tools that work – the death penalty doesn’t.

For more detailed reasons it's time to Repeal the Death Penalty, visit our page: http://www.icadp.org/content/why-repeal-death-penalty

In September, ICADP will launch the first of two fall speaking tours titled “Beyond Repair: True Stories of Illinois’ Flawed Death Penalty," aimed at revisiting the issue of the death penalty ten years after the moratorium.

With tour stops in six suburban cities, these live presentations will feature compelling testimony of men who were wrongfully convicted and later freed from Illinois' death row, like Randy Steidl of Charleston, Illinois, who was released in 2004 when evidence emerged that he had been framed after spending 17 years on death row. Family members of murder victims like Cathy Crino whose sister Stephanie was murdered in 1995, will also share their experience with the system after the death of their loved one. It will reveal stories of redemption, forgiveness, and betrayal from those personally affected by the death penalty.

The suburban tour stops include St. Charles, Naperville, Arlington Heights, Joliet, the Quad Cities and Schaumburg. We will soon announce dates and locations for a second tour in October in Central Illinois.

For the full schedule of the tour dates and locations, visit our Upcoming Events page.

Among the haunting questions raised by the release of Jerry Hobbs is this: Why does Illinois still have the death penalty on its books? And how close did we come – this time – to sending another innocent man to Death Row?

Some will say that Hobbs was saved by DNA evidence, and our ability to read such evidence will insure that the system works. Others will give thanks that the confession police coerced from Hobbs was finally proven false, and that the law now mandates the taping of the whole interrogation in homicide cases. However, neither circumstance should reassure us that what happened to Jerry Hobbs can’t happen again.

ICADP is joining Equal Justice USA, Murder Victims’ Families for Human Rights, and Murder Victims Families for Reconciliation in hosting a Meet and Greet for Murder Victims’ Families.

As ICADP works to abolish the death penalty, we will work to highlight the many ways in which the system fails to take care of murder victims’ family members. Diverting desperately needed resources is one of those failures.