Illinois Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty

Illinois Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty
180 N. Michigan, Suite 2300, Chicago, IL 60601
Phone: (312) 849-2279; Fax: (312) 201-9760; Website: www.icadp.org

ILLINOIS Coalition to Abolish THE DEATH PENALTY RESPONDS
TO AMENDATORY VETO OF DEATH PENALTY LEGISLATION

For Immediate Release

(Chicago . . . ) The Illinois Coalition Against the Death Penalty today responded to Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich’s Amendatory Veto of death penalty reform legislation. Governor Blagojevich indicated that he supported the legislation except for a provision dealing with penalties for police perjury in homicide cases.

“This legislation is significant because the Illinois General Assembly, in an overwhelming and bi-partisan manner, has recognized that there are serious flaws in the Illinois criminal justice system, and now Governor Blagojevich has agreed with that assessment” said Jane Bohman, Executive Director of the Coalition. "The legislation is not a panacea for the systemic flaws in the criminal justice system that has put at least seventeen innocent men on death row. Major portions of the recommendations of the non-partisan Governor’s Commission on Capital Punishment are not included in the legislation, including recommendations that sought to alleviate racial and geographic disparity in the application of the death penalty.

“In addition, Governor Blagojevich is to be commended for continuing the moratorium on executions while the effect of reforms on the death penalty process are examined”, continued Bohman. “With the life and death nature of capital punishment, and when so many mistakes have been made, it is important to undergo a thorough review of the system over time, as Governor Blagojevich has indicated he will do.”

The Illinois Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty is confident that as the General Assembly, Governor Blagojevich and the public continue to review of the use of death penalty, it will conclude, as the Governor’s Commission on Capital Punishment did, that no system can be devised that will guarantee that an innocent person will never again be sentenced to death.

“In the end, the only way to ensure that innocent people are not executed is to substitute the punishment of death with the sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole, which protects public safety but allows for the correction of the inevitable mistakes that will be made,” concluded Bohman.

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The Illinois Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty is a statewide grassroots not-for-profit organization that seeks to educate the public on the flaws and injustices in the Illinois death penalty system and to promote humane and effective alternatives to capital punishment.