CUNNINGHAM-CAREY AWARD

The Illinois Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty honors activism against the death penalty with its highest award, the Cunningham-Carey Award.   Named for abolitionists and ICADP Board members Richard E. Cunningham and Jack Carey, the award seeks to recognize those individuals who have made special contributions to the fight against the death penalty and the promotion of humane alternatives to capital punishment.

Richard Cunningham. Dick Cunningham was an attorney whose devotion to the rights of criminal defendants drove a distinguished career as a Public Defender, State Appellate Defender and attorney in private practice. His commitment to the highest level of representation in capital appeals won him hard earned respect when his client Ronald Jones was exonerated and released in 1999 through Dick’s persistence. Dick was active outside the courtroom in the cause of abolition. He regularly made presentations to the public and to public officials, including an appearance with Ronald Jones before the Governor’s Commission on Capital Punishment the night before his death. His commitment to abolition included service on the Board of Directors of the Illinois Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty and the Illinois Death Penalty Moratorium Project. He died in March 2001.

Jack Carey. Jack Carey tenaciously fought the death penalty in the courtroom as a member of the Murder Task Force of the Cook County Public Defender’s Office, where he tried numerous death penalty cases. He began his career in criminal justice as a drug treatment coordinator for TASK in Chicago and then became an attorney, taking his first job representing criminal defendants at the Lake County Public Defender’s Office. In the late 1980’s he moved to the Cook County Public Defender’s Office and quickly began trying capital cases. His commitment to the rights of his clients served as an inspiration to all who knew him. Jack also served as a member of the Board of the Illinois Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty and was president of the union representing the public defender’s office. He died in January 2002.

Recipients:

•  Illinois Governor George H. Ryan

•  Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky

•  Terri Mascherin, Partner, Jenner & Block, LLP

•  Bill Kurtis

•  Lawrence C. Marshall, Stanford University