Illinois Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty
332 S. Michigan Ave., Ste. 500, Chicago, IL 60604
Office 312.673.3816 | Fax | 312-427.6130 | Online
| www.icadp.org
Committed to Human Dignity and the Abolition of the Death Penalty
THE DEATH PENALTY DOESN'T WORK
The time has come to abolish the death
penalty in Illinois. Former Governor George H. Ryan pardoned four
innocent men who had been tortured into confessing and commuted the
sentences of 167 men and women sentenced to death because the state’s
capital punishment system is “haunted by the demon of error.”
The General Assembly must act to reform the entire criminal justice
system and repeal our fatally flawed capital punishment system.
THE FACTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES
State killing can take an innocent life | Seventeen men have been
exonerated and released from Illinois’ death row since reinstatement
of the death penalty in 1977. Nationally, more than 100 innocent people
have been released from death row.
The administration of the death penalty in Illinois is arbitrary |
At most, just two percent of people who commit murders get the death
penalty. The decision to seek the death penalty varies by county and
the attitude of the local prosecutor. Every year, many homicides in
Illinois are effectively addressed through Life Without the Possibility
of Parole (LWOP) or other sentencing alternatives.
Mistakes in the Illinois system of capital punishment have happened
repeatedly | More than 135 death penalty convictions in Illinois
have been reversed or sentences vacated on appeal. The Chicago Tribune’s
study of 285 capital cases between 1977-1999 found that 39 defendants
had attorneys who were later disbarred or disciplined, 46 cases used
jailhouse snitches, whose testimony is notoriously unreliable; 35
African American defendants were sentenced to death by all-white juries;
and in 20 cases unreliable or fraudulent lab test results were used.
The death penalty does not deter violence | Ten of the 12 states
without the death penalty have homicide rates below the national average.
In 1998, Illinois’ homicide rate was 8.3 per 100,000; the national
rate was 6.3 per 100,000. Of nearby states, four without the death
penalty had lower homicide rates: Wisconsin – 3.5; Iowa –
1.9; Michigan – 7.5; Minnesota – 2.4.
Racism contaminates the administration of the death penalty |
67 percent of the people on Illinois’ death row were people of
color – the highest percentage in the country of any major state.
A study done for the Governor’s Commission on Capital Punishment
revealed that the race of the victim played a statistically significant
role in who gets the death penalty in Illinois.
The death penalty is a waste of money | Since 1977, Illinois has
spent over $800 million more on death penalty cases than would have
been spent if all cases had been tried as LWOP cases. Capital punishment
uses resources that could be used for crime prevention, crime victims’
services, rehabilitation and improved administration of the criminal
justice system.
To learn more about the death penalty
in Illinois or to get involved in the fight for abolition, contact
the Illinois Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty at (312)849-2279.
Don’t forget to visit us online at www.icadp.org
