A Policy Statement from the Chicago Council of Lawyers

December 2007

A death penalty system that does not ensure the fair and just administration of law’s ultimate punishment is reprehensible. Full implementation of essential safeguards designed to prevent wrongful imposition of the irrevocable sentence of death is more than an aspiration. It is a necessity. The Chicago Council of Lawyers believes that if Illinois is not wholeheartedly committed to enacting necessary reforms to a demonstrably broken system, the death penalty in this state should itself be extinguished.

During the past decade, the Chicago Council of Lawyers has examined Illinois’ capital punishment system, issued proposals to reform that system, and monitored developments in capital punishment in Illinois and the United States. After it became known that several innocent men had been sentenced to Illinois’ death row, the Council in 1997 called on all three branches of Illinois government to impose a moratorium on executions and to appoint commissions to recommend reforms. In 2000, then-Governor George Ryan imposed a moratorium on executions and established a Commission on Capital Punishment, which ultimately made 85 recommendations. Also in 2000, the Council and the Appleseed Fund for Justice issued a 56-page report entitled Due Process and the Death Penalty in Illinois which made several recommendations aimed at improving both trial and post-conviction procedures in capital cases. The Illinois House of Representatives and the Illinois Supreme Court also appointed committees to study Illinois’ death penalty. In 2003, Governor Ryan commuted the death sentences of all 167 inmates on Illinois’ death row, noting that the legislature had failed to act on his Commission’s recommendations.

By late 2007, the great majority of recommended reforms to the death penalty still have not been implemented even while capital cases continue to be prosecuted and individuals are sentenced to death. This underwhelming response to a life or death crisis created by the justice system itself is not tolerable.

In response, the Board of Governors of the Chicago Council of Lawyers has voted to support the abolition of the death penalty in Illinois if the Illinois General Assembly does not take aggressive action to immediately implement all of the recommendations found in the Governor’s and the Council’s reports. The Council urges its members, other bar associations, and individual lawyers to join in support of this position.

Daniel T. Coyne
President, Chicago Council of Lawyers

Malcolm C. Rich
Executive Director, Chicago Council of Lawyers

Chicago Council of Lawyers
Chicago’s Public Interest Bar Association
750 N. Lake Shore Drive Fourth Floor
Chicago, Illinois 60611
Telephone: (312) 988-6565 Fax (312) 654-8644
E-mail: ccl@chicagocouncil.org Website: www.chicagocouncil.org