Illinois Governor Quinn Wisely Ends Death Penalty

As a lifetime resident of Illinois, I applaud IL. Governor Pat Quinn's historic decision to end the death penalty and hope more states will follow suit ending this cruel and inhumane practice. Quinn's decision to abolish the death penalty in the state and commute the sentences of all 15 death row inmates to life without parole is the only humane choice for an antiquated, expensive and ineffective system.

In 2000, then Governor George Ryan imposed a moratorium on the law after 13 men on death row were found innocent. Ryan found the system to be full of flaws and suspended the practice to allow for time to study the system. Quinn ended the moratorium on March 9, 2011 , signing a bill to eliminate the punishment.

Illinois is not the only state where innocent people have been sentenced to death row. From 1973 to 2010, there have been 138 exonerations in 26 different states. 138 victims were released from death row because of new evidence proving their innocence. Those are the lucky cases. There have also been 12 posthumous pardons after executions. Those are the unlucky ones. A system that punishes innocent people by putting them to death is as evil as the criminals it is trying to stop.

The death penalty is not a crime deterrent. States without the death penalty actually show a consistent slightly lower murder rate . The death penalty doesn't stop heinous crime. The people committing these crimes are not thinking reasonably. They are obviously not worrying about getting caught; the possibility of death at some future point in time is not slowing murders in the least.

The state is as broke as the system it just outlawed. Illinois is facing their largest budget deficit in history. How about if politicians try to cut senseless spending from the budget? We can't afford the death penalty. The death penalty costs counties and the state more than cases seeking life without parole. In some cases it costs twice as much to process a death penalty case as one seeking a life sentence. Keeping inmates isolated on a special ward separated from the general prison population also adds to costs.

Quinn said of his decision, "We have found over and over again mistakes have been made, innocent people have been freed. It's not possible to create a perfect, mistake-free death penalty system." This system of punishment doesn't work. Morally or financially, Illinois can't afford the death penalty. Quinn did good.