Illinois Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty

Governor signs bill requiring taped confessions

By Maura Kelly
Associated Press Writer
July 17, 2003

Gov. Rod Blagojevich signed a bill Thursday requiring police to tape interrogations and confessions in murder cases, a key step in a series of reforms aimed at reforming Illinois' death penalty system.

The governor said the bill makes Illinois the first state to require, by statute, that investigators use audio- or videotape when they question murder suspects. Law enforcement agencies will have two years to come up with recording procedures.

"It is our moral duty to restore the integrity of the criminal justice system as we know it today in Illinois,'' Blagojevich.

The measure was one of several passed this spring to address a death penalty system Blagojevich's predecessor, former Gov. George Ryan, declared deeply flawed.

After capital punishment resumed in Illinois in 1977, 13 men were released from the state's death row after they were found to have been wrongly convicted. In response, Ryan imposed a moratorium on executions in 2000 and then commuted every death sentence in the state before leaving office this January.

Blagojevich has not decided whether to sign other measures approved by the General Assembly. Even if he does, he said, he is not sure the changes will make him comfortable enough with Illinois' capital punishment system to lift Ryan's moratorium.

Two other states, Minnesota and Alaska, already require tapings. Because courts and not legislatures required those states to do so, the Illinois law is the first of its kind in the country, said Rob Warden, executive director of Northwestern University's Center on Wrongful Convictions.

"This is the most substantial criminal justice reform measure since the 1960s in Illinois,'' Warden said. "Because Illinois has been in the forefront of criminal justice reform since Governor Ryan declared a moratorium on capital punishment, what's happening here is being watched nationally.''

"We believe Illinois will be a bellwether for the nation. This portends similar reforms in other states,'' he said.

The taping is intended to reduce the chance that confessions are coerced or tortured out of suspects, a claim made in several cases in which condemned men later were freed from death row in Illinois.

"If the judges and jury are able to see the circumstances under which the confession is produced, it will inevitably greatly decrease the number of wrongful convictions stemming from false confessions,'' Warden said.

But John Piland, president of the Illinois State's Attorneys Association, said videotaping may not show the circumstances leading up to a confession.

"To say this is going to end all claims of police misconduct, it won't. The imagination isn't confined to that which is captured on tape and is in the room,'' he said.

Piland's group worked with lawmakers to ensure there were exceptions to the taping requirement in certain cases, such as if someone confessed in a squad car or taping equipment broke. He said his group is not trying to avoid videotaping and will work to make the legislation successful.

"What I think everyone is looking for is reliability of the statements,'' he said. "The fact that it's not recorded doesn't make that statement unreliable. The fact that the statement is recorded doesn't mean that the person making the statement is telling the truth.''

Piland doubted the measure would make Illinois a leader in criminal justice reform.

"I don't think that it's some major accomplishment. To the extent we are able to make use of technology available to us to show jurors, that's to the good. But that's where we're going anyway, whether there's a law or not,'' he said.

Also Thursday, Blagojevich signed a bill requiring police to record the race of people they pull over during traffic stops. The state Transportation Department then would review the data for signs of racial bias.
The governor signed legislation allowing people to have their arrest records expunged if they are later found to be innocent.

Pamphlets, a Web site and a special phone number would be available for people who want to know how to expunge their records. The legislation would provide information about how to get criminal charges sealed and provide a list of attorneys to help.