Learn About the Death Penalty

The death penalty is the most severe sentence that can be dealt to a defendant in the state of Illinois. Its use was halted by the Supreme Court in 1972 as the Court felt that capital punishment was used too arbitrarily. In 1976, the state of Illinois reinstated the death penalty. There are still countless problems with the death penalty, especially when it comes to the issues of innocence and cost.

Innocence
Since the US resumed using the death penalty, 139 people have been exonerated and released from death row in 25 different states, with more exonerations occurring each year. In the state of Illinois, 20 people have been exonerated from death row.
Capital cases have a high error rate according to a study by Prof. James Liebman entitled “A Broken System: Error Rates in Capital Cases.” Most of the errors occur as a result of incompetent representation at trial, prosecutorial misconduct, and faulty instructions to the jury. The error rate in capital cases is also due to factors like the heinous nature of the crime and the high profile of the case.

Cost
Capital punishment cases, from the trial period until the actual execution cost states more money than life without parole. This is not because of the appeals process, although that adds to the cost, but because capital punishment cases cost more from the start as Illinois requires more of a capital punishment case than other cases. These requirements, of extra lawyers, witnesses, and such, add to the cost of the trial.

The state of Illinois allocated $16,332,553 dollars for the Capital Litigation Trust Fund in the 2008 fiscal year. This fund covers only part of the cost of capital cases and does not cover the cost of appeals, the cost of prosecuting a capital case, or the cost of housing a death row inmate. The true cost of the death penalty in Illinois is millions more than the $16 million spent by the Capital Litigation Trust Fund each year.