Presbytery of Chicago
January 22,2002
The Honorable George Ryan, Governor
State of Illinois
207 State House
Springfield, IL 62706
Dear Governor Ryan:
At its meeting on December 11,2001, the Presbytery of Chicago, commissioners
elected from congregations and clergy, representing 109 congregations
and over 42,000 members within the Chicago area. passed a RESOLUTION
URGING THE ILLINOIS LEGISLATURE TO ABOLISH THE DEATH PENALTY IN THE
STATE OF ILLINOIS. The local churches echo the position of the Denomination,
the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in declaring that the following:
RATIONALE
There is a high risk of convicting,
condemning and executing the innocent. Thirteen men have been
exonerated since the death penalty was reinstated in Illinois in 1977.
The death penalty is applied in a random and arbitrary way. At most,
just two percent of people who commit murders are convicted of capital
murder. The decision to seek the death penalty varies by county and
the attitude of the local prosecutors. Every year, more than l,000
homicides in Illinois are effectively addressed through Life Without
The Possibility of Parole and other sentencing alternatives.
The capital punishment system is racially biased. At least
two-thirds of death row inmates are African-American and Hispanic,
compared to a population of less than 35 percent. African-Americans
make up only 14 percent of Illinois population, but they make up over
60 percent of Illinois' prison and death row population. Minority
inmates also constitute 83% of those who have thus far been shown
to have been wrongfully convicted. Nationwide, prosecutors are more
likely to request the death penalty, and juries are more likely to
impose it, when the defendant is black or when the victim .is white.
The death penalty does not deter violence. Since 1976, the
number of executions in the United States and the size of the death
row population have steadily and substantially increased with no apparent
connection to local murder rates. In fact, for most of the period
since 1976, the murder rate was higher in 38 death penalty states
than in 12 non-death penalty states. States with the death penalty
have had homicide rates 48 to 101 percent higher over the last 20
years than states without capital punishment.
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 Life Without Possibility
of Parole cases. These resources could be spent on crime prevention,
crime victims- services, rehabilitation and improved administration
of the criminal justice system.
The death penalty diminishes our moral authority on human rights
issues. Capital punishment has been abolished as a violation of
human rights in almost all western industrial democracies. All of
the nations that we identify western politically and culturally view
the death penalty as a barbaric relic of the past As more and more
countries abolish capital punishment, the United States will increasingly
be viewed as a pariah nation that violates the human rights of its
citizens.
Recent Guidelines from the Office of the General Assembly. Presbyterian
Church (U.S.A.):
The 212th General Assembly reaffirms the positions of the 171st (1959),
177th (1965) and 189th (1977) General Assemblies of the United Presbyterian
Church, the 106th General Assembly (1966) of the Presbyterian Church
U.S. and the 197th General Assembly (1985), of the Presbyterian Church
(U.S.A.) and declares its continuing opposition to capital punishment.
The 212th General Assembly (1998) calls for an immediate moratorium
on all executions in all jurisdictions that impose capital punishment.
We ask that our resolution be placed before the State Legislature
at the earliest possibility.
Janet L. Wilson
Stated Clerk, Presbytery of Chicago
