Illinois Bans Capital Punishment

[VoteProgressive]

This is GREAT news!!!

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/10/us/10illinois.html

Illinois became the 16th state to ban capital punishment as Gov. Pat Quinn on Wednesday signed an abolition bill that the state legislature passed in January.

“Since our experience has shown that there is no way to design a perfect death penalty system, free from the numerous flaws that can lead to wrongful convictions or discriminatory treatment, I have concluded that the proper course of action is to abolish it,” Mr. Quinn said in a statement. “With our broken system, we cannot ensure justice is achieved in every case.”

[Oceansaway]

1. K&R...n/t

[AngryAmish]

2. About time

See the prosecutors are politicians, as well as the judges. And Illinois politicians are a torrent of assholes who really cannot do anything right. One is more greedy and thick-witted than the next.
Innocent people were going to die if this was not done away with.

Jesus I hate my state.

[malaise]

3. Bravo Illinois

Life is all that matters

[GKirk]

4. I would have never guessed

that IL still had it up til now. When was the last execution?

[fishwax]

6. the last execution was in 1999 and there was a moratorium in 2000, but

people have still been added to death row in the years since 2003 (when George Ryan commuted all the death row inmates to life without parole).

[reggie the dog]

14. hats off to my old republican governor for that one

[MineralMan]

5. Bravo! Now, let's make it nationwide!

Time for the US to become a civilized country.

[VoteProgressive]

7. I 100% agree, not a deterrent, not cheaper, etc. And barbaric!

[Upton]

8. Great news?

Family members of murder victims also made emotional pleas. Among them was Cindy McNamara, whose daughter, Shannon, was murdered in 2001 while attending Eastern Illinois University.

Shannon McNamara was asleep in her locked off-campus apartment when she was raped, strangled, beaten and stabbed. Her body was left in the living room. A washcloth was stuffed in her mouth.

Former EIU student Anthony Mertz was convicted, becoming the first person sent to death row after Ryan emptied it.

"We have the death penalty for a reason," Cindy McNamara wrote in a letter to Quinn. "This is the reason!"

http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/clout_st/2011/03/quinn-signs-death-penalty-ban-commutes-15-death-row-sentences-to-life.html

I prefer to side with the victims and their families as opposed to convicted murderers. The DP needs to remain a viable punishment option in order to rid us of the human scum that commit the kind of crime that ended Cindy McNamara's daughter's life..

[InvisibleTouch]

10. That's not the popular consensus here...

...but I agree with you.

[reggie the dog]

17. you read the article right? that over a dozen innocents

were on death row and then released. it was thanks to students at northwestern law school that the innocents were not killed, that is why the republican governor ryan put a moratorium on the death penalty and commuted all sentences to life without parole.

[VoteProgressive]

18. No upside, a huge downside!

[VoteProgressive]

11. You must not know much about the death penalty and it's mistakes.....

An average of one person PER YEAR has been released from death row because of new evidence. It is a flawed system. And as much as you need your vengeance a civilized society does not support state sanctioned murder.
And there is an arson case where experts agree a man was executed wrongly.
And there is no upside to it except vengeance. Maybe you would like to torture him also?

[Upton]

19. Nobody wants to see the innocent executed..

With the rise of DNA technology..sufficient safeguards can be built in. The DP should be reserved for no doubters.

I also believe society is justified in seeking and carrying out a collective vengeance..

Tell the truth though, worrying about the innocent being executed has little to do with your opposition.. you and many others would be against the DP anyway.

Sorry, but coddling criminals isn't on my radar..

[VoteProgressive]

21. You are wrong.....

It amazes me you can even say "reserved for no doubters". It is laughable and points to your flawed logic. You think the Police and Jury on the dozens who have been removed from Death Row said "well we are not sure of this one, buts lets execute him anyway"?? Wake up!

ALL of them think they are 100% sure, and are proven wrong later.

[Upton]

23. Jared Loughner is an example of a no doubter..

or do you feel he might be innocent too?

[VoteProgressive]

24. Ok, let me explain it simpler......

Who would decide the "no doubters"? I imagine you don't have time to travel around the country and research all possible death penalty cases. So I guess we will need to allow a jury and judge to decide. Whoops, that does not work so well dose it?

I will say this simply again "ALL OF THE PEOPLE ON DEATH ROW WERE CONSIDERED 'NO DOUBTERS'" but it has BEEN WRONG many times.

[Pithlet]

25. That may be your standard of no doubter

But there are plenty of people who feel things like eye witness testimony, and confession, make a case beyond doubt. Sorry, but the logic fails. It's assuming that people up until now were put to death even though the people responsible for it had sufficient doubt. Human beings are too fallible. If the DP exists, innocents will die.

[VoteProgressive]

13. Are you a major poster in the Guns forum?

[Upton]

20. Is there a problem with that?

I do post in the guns forum...so what? I wouldn't consider myself a "major poster" though..I spend much more time in the sports forum...you have a problem with that too?

[VoteProgressive]

22. No.....just a guess,

but many gun types I know, tend to be the "lock them up and throw away the key" type or "kill them all and let God sort them out" type. That is not an issue, but I was just curious if it applied in your case.

[reggie the dog]

15. and the dozen death row inmates found innocent

because some kids at northwestern law school looked into the cases and got them reopened? is that why we have the death penalty? so innocent people can be killed by the state?

[VoteProgressive]

16. +1000

[madrchsod]

9. i rember when governor ryan and georgie got in a big pissing contest over this

ryan`s in prison and george is his own person but on this issue ryan won.

[reggie the dog]

12. this is great news for my home state

[TheKentuckian]

26. That is a point on the board for civilization