Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn announced Wednesday that he has signed legislation eliminating the death penalty in his state, more than 10 years after the state halted executions.
"Fellow citizens, we cannot escape history," Quinn (pictured), a Democrat, told reporters in making the announcement.
Illinois conducted its last execution in 1999. Then-Gov. George Ryan halted executions in 2000, after a series of death row inmates were exonerated. Quinn said his review had convinced him that it was impossible to administer capital punishment without mistakes, and abolishing it was "the right and just thing."
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I agree with Jake – fry there ass
This is from the New Testiment on line bible saved in my favorites
38¶Ye have heard that it hath been said, An aeye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth:
39But I say unto you, That ye resist not aevil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right bcheek, cturn to him the other also.
40And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also.
41And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain.
42aGive to him that asketh thee, and from him that would bborrow of thee turn not thou away.
this is a legal issue and the discussion should be left to people who understand the law, primarily the fact that there is a divide between law and religion in this country. save your sermon for sunday when people might actually care what a 2,000 year old work of fiction says.
Micheal , this is GOD speaking , u want to say that to my face when u get here
OOO , by the way our laws r based on the 10 commandments buddy
Ok, and what about a person who is on trial for kidnapping raping and murdering a child?What if there is little evidence of the guilt? What deterrent is there if they know that all that will happen is they spend the rest of their lives in jail 3 meals a day, Cable, exercise room, library, etc? what about the victim and her family? How is this justice for them?
The victim will be rewarded in HEAVEN , you just have to be patient
'What if there is little evidence of the guilt? What deterrent is there if they know that all that will happen is they spend the rest of their lives in jail 3 meals a day, Cable, exercise room, library, etc? what about the victim and her family? How is this justice for them?'
And where is the justice for the wrongly executed person?
I have always been against the death penalty, but I've never walked in the shoes of a victim's family member. If someone murdered one of my loved ones, I'm fairly sure my mind could be changed. And I'm not proud of that–I'm just conflicted.
There are a lot of people who cite child molesters as worthy of execution. While I personally agree, the Supreme Court held in 2008 that you can't execute child molesters. You can only execute people for murder or treason, in a nutshell.
Meaning, the child molesters are already free from the death penalty, and have been for years. It's rather ignorant to invoke child molestation in a death penalty discussion.
And for the bickering partisans – both presidential candidates at the time of the decision (Obama and McCain) criticized the decision.
And if we DID execute child molesters, there would be a serious shortage of Catholic priests.
(maybe THEN, they'd consider women in the pulpit...rrrrright.)
If my child is molested, I would rather she had the chance to live, than to be killed because the molester is afraid of being found out then executed.
Thank you Governor Quinn for having the courage to do the right thing. Thanks to everyone who e-mailed, called, or wrote asking the Governor to sign this repeal. My hope is that my own state of Oklahoma will someday move forward as Illinois has, which moves our country forward as well.
Since sometimes the wrong people are punished, we should not punish anyone. Right?
Aren't there stories about people who have been imprisoned wrongfully? And prison isn't a deterrent? We should stop incarcerating people as well.
Repeal of the death penalty does not mean laws are not enforced or that people are not imprisoned. It means that no one will be put to death-which is an irreversible punishment. The end of the death penalty is not the end of accountability or responsibility-why would you even think that?
there is a pretty glaring diference that even your pea brain should be able to grasp. if you wrongfully imprison someone, but later find out that you imprisoned the wrong person, you can....(wait for it)...let them out of jail.
if you execute someone wrongfully, there is no coming back from that. unless it's Jesus, i guess.
If I was in charge I would extend the death penalty to all sorts of crimes.... and it would include crimes by crazy/retarded people.... because really what is more dangerous then someone who DOESN'T know the difference between right and wrong and has violent tendencies. Then take all the remains and use them to fill up pot holes!
Right on! Death penalty for parking violations!
Filling up potholes with the remains of human beings you want dead sounds like mental illness and violent tendencies to me.
No... I would add the death penalty for s*x offenders, r@pists, child abusers and child molesters (watch out priests!) and ALL court cases would use DNA testing, and with no appeals we wouldn't even need a death row.
And I thought the pot hole idea is great... killing 2 birds with 1 stone! The crime rate in this country would be next to nothing, PLUS the money used to support all these lifers in prison/death row would be saved.
Remind me once again how blessed I am to not live in a place like Illinois
You oppose civilized behavior? Why?
hopefully the rest of us can also be blessed and you live in a place like Libya or Somalia.
Blago. Exorbitant taxes. Totalitarian gun laws. Now this. Illinois has jumped the shark. Launch the lifeboats. http://www.granitesentry.com
The loss of freedom for life is far worse punishment than death. If that was not the case, why would anyone join the US Military to protect America's freedom? I see the death penalty as mostly about revenge. In a country where the majority profess to follow Christ, I find this particularly strange. The "eye for an eye" mentality comes from Jewish and Muslim traditions. I have never heard of a single call for the death penalty by Jesus. I think that if you want to call yourself a Christian yet favor killing people, you might want to look in the mirror and question your integrity.
I've heard preachers say God believes in the death penalty because even Jesus followed that law of sin and death. yes we shouldn't judge but the New Testament says we have leaders and others like soldiers and police to help keep the peace, read Romans 13:1-4 in your bible that I am sure you barely read
Guest, Funny, I just didn't see Jesus' teachings mentioned there. It is rather like the civil authorities telling you their power comes from God which gives them control. Like the Pope claiming infallibility on matters of faith. Who wants to challenge God's word, right? Dictators could use that passage quite nicely. If God loves the death penalty, then God has the power to carry it out himself, IMO. He doesn't needs the states help.
Well said Steven.
Lets see ...we stop executions because 2% of those convicted are convicted incorrectly. So instead we throw them in jail for their life........wow that is so much better. And if capital pumishment is not a deterent , then why do they keep appealling the sentence. Yup we are handling the big stuff for the majority of the people. Don't fix the budget just stroke your liberal followers and write more back checks.
Pat Quinn wouldn't make a pimple on a good governor's butt. He's as ignorant at that other moron we had for governor.
the Catholic Church hasn't been doing Mexico any favors by preaching them to not have a death penalty and not use birth control, it is unfortunate but in this day and age some people just love to be evil too much that prisons can't even hold them while they keep trying to spread their evil as seen in Mexico's example of corrupt prison guards and outrageous drug cartels (it is not drug users fault for what evil murderers do stop blaming americans-it is probably anchor babies and illegals the drug cartels sell to first-their friends and family). and birthcontrol is helpful in many cases, you don't have to have tons of children you can't take care of to prove you are religious