Statement of Robert Schultz, Death Penalty Abolition Program Coordinator, Amnesty International Midwest Regional Office

Statement made before the Illinois House Judiciary II Committee Hearing, conducted in Chicago, June 20, 2002

Good afternoon.

My name is Robert Schultz and I am the Death Penalty Abolition Program Coordinator at the Amnesty International Midwest Regional Office in Chicago.
Amnesty International is a worldwide human rights organization whose members are leading the struggle to defend human rights and save lives. Amnesty International has over one million members in over 140 countries.

Nearly one-third of those members are in the US. In Illinois we have over 20,000 members. In 1977, Amnesty International won the Nobel Peace Prize for having "contributed to securing ground for freedom, for justice, and thereby also for peace in the world." Amnesty International stands with people in every country of the world who are on the front lines of the fight against repression, torture, abductions and the death penalty.

Amnesty International stands if full support of passage of House Bill 576 that would abolish the use of the death penalty in the state of Illinois.

It's time, Illinois, to take the historic step and abolish the death penalty. Abolition, rather than additional reform, is the solution to the arbitrariness, unfairness, and wrongful convictions that challenge this country's democratic values. As Illinois Governor George Ryan told a United States Senate committee studying the death penalty, "I do know, especially after September 11, that the United States must be a model for the rest of the world. And that means our justice system should be the glowing example for the pursuit of truth and justice. It must be fair and compassionate."

Amnesty International calls upon this committee to take the courage to embrace the conclusion reached by the Governor's commission on Capital Punishment when it reported, "The commission was unanimous in the belief that no system, given human nature and its frailties, could ever be devised or constructed that would work perfectly and guarantee absolutely that no innocent person is ever again sentenced to death."

Indeed if every recommendation of the Governor's commission is adopted, it is certain that the death penalty will continue to risk that the innocent people may be sentenced to death, and it will be arbitrary and unfair.

Later this month, we will mark an anniversary, thirty years ago; America was at a fork in the road regarding the continued use of capital punishment. In Furman v. Georgia, the United States Supreme Court temporarily suspended the death penalty, citing its arbitrariness and its propensity to aid in miscarriages of justice.

Despite these concerns however, four years later, twenty-six years ago this month, in Gregg v. Georgia, the court reinstated the death penalty, ushering in the modern era of death penalty reform. Seven hundred and eighty people have been executed since. Across the country over 100 people have been released from death row due to wrongful convictions. It is time to bring this era of reform to a close and end the use of capital punishment.

During the last 30 years, over 70 countries abolished the death penalty. Four states, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Iowa, that do not have a death penalty, surround Illinois.

Amnesty International is here today because the death penalty is a violation of the most basic of human rights - the right to life. The death penalty violates human rights standards. Europeans and other peoples of the world who have experienced the stiflingly rule of totalitarianism understand instinctively that a government that embraces the death penalty is not a government that cherishes human rights or democracy.

In recent years with the birth of new democracies, one of the first acts undertaken is to jettison the death penalty. Indeed, over half of the countries in the world have abolished the death penalty in law or in practice, and the number of countries who actually execute prisoners is much smaller. The vast majority of executions worldwide were carried out in a tiny handful of countries. In 2001, 90 per cent of all known executions took place in China, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the USA. In China, limited and incomplete records available to Amnesty International at the end of the year indicated that at least 2,468 people were executed, but the true figure was believed to be much higher. At least 139 executions were carried out in Iran. In Saudi Arabia, 79 executions were reported, but the total may have been much higher. Sixty-six people were executed in the USA.

We have the once in a lifetime opportunity to turn our back on the death penalty and abandon its use. Illinois must do so, and I look forward to that history-making day. I recommend passage of House Bill 576.