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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Is death penalty reversible? Is imprisonment..?
I'd like to see how some of you would handle this debate if YOUR FAMILY was murdered! Two children were orphaned in Illinois and you people have more compasion for the killer than the killed!
Just because a person is wrongfully murdered by the state makes it better? If the wrong person paid for YOUR family's loss, would that make it right? Would you push for the guilty person to also be executed? or since one person already died by mistake, does that make the debt already paid?
And this people that are pro death penalty are the same that use the pro life card, hypocrites ,
And what if you were convicted of killing those children (but you were really innocent). Should I be allowed to execute you?
There's a difference between being against the death penalty because of morality and being against it because of a lack of confidence that innocent people will not be accidentally executed. If you read the article, you'd notice that in Illinois the reason the death penalty was abolished was because of the latter. Or do you think it's okay to execute innocent people in order to show those criminals a lesson?
This people that are pro death penalty are the same right wing hypocrites that use the Pro life card to attack abortion, that is so hypocrite and a contradiction
Did you miss the part of the article where they discussed that people on death row have been INNOCENT? How is their murder by the state any less horrendous than the murders you bring up?
I'm guessing you will feel a little different if you, as an innocent person, was sentenced to death. Or someone you love.
If my family was murdered, I'd want society protected. I'd want the person locked up and the key thrown away. But I would have no need to kill them. A second murder would be exceedingly unlikely to bring my family back.
Would I feel murderous rage toward the killer? You bet. Should I, like the killer act on it? Is that progress? What, morally, is to be gained?
Communicating this is almost impossible. Most pro-death penalty people operate on too primitive and reactive a level to get it. Particularly, and ironically "Right to Lifers".
'Jim – I'd like to see how some of you would handle this debate if YOUR FAMILY was murdered!'
I would like to see how you would handle this debate if you were an iinocent person on death row, especially as some people here are advocating taking you immediately round the back and putting a bullet in your head and to ignore the appeals process.
This legislation has been brought to you by The Master Blaster, Rahm Quinn.
How ignorant is some people here , Rahm Emanuel is not the governors , this is a joke
Are Prisons deterant or rehabilitation centers????????? Are you people nutz. I worked in them for over 15 years and you don't have a clue. Based on your logic we would close all the prisons because they are not deterrant and not rehabilitation centers and send them to a Chicago High School instead.
Apples and oranges, straw man, faulty comparison. Get over the hysteria and stay with the facts.
To all you bleeding hearts that is so against the death penalty. I hope and pray that one of your loved one's is never murdered, but should it happen, I see if you dont change your feeling towards the death penalty. I St.Louis police officer was murdered a few years ago, during his trial he said he admitted he did it and had no remorse for what he did and for the policemans family yet the jury gave him life. Where is JUSTICE here? I am for public hangings, be-headings, whatever it takes to STOP thugs from killing..............Life in prison dont get it.
So you are pro death. Pre planned killing of another human being. Except for one being considered a "crime" and the other being considered "justice" one human being is killing another human being. I bet you talk anti-choice when it comes to a womans right to chose wheather to have a child.
***o all you bleeding hearts that is so against the death penalty. I hope and pray that one of your loved one's is never murdered, but should it happen, I see if you dont change your feeling towards the death penalty.***
I hope to God you are someday accused of a crime you didn't commit so that you'll gain a little wisdom.
Yeah, because killing someone totally brings the dead back to life...
AL, You must be a retard for making comments like the one's you made. If a thug kills someone, why should they not be put to death????? Did the person they killed have a choice? NO, they did not have a choice, once the thug killed someone, any and all of their rights as a human should be taken away. And forget years & years sitting on death row. If their is no doubt, put them to death the same day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IN A PUBLIC SHOWING... and watch the murder rate drop!!!!!
As far as pro-choice, if a woman gets pregnant, she has one choice. HAVE THE BABY. I
There is are places for you
Saudi Arabia, Pakistan.
Swift retribution, little concern about justice.
But the murder rate WON'T drop. Don't you understand?
Phil
There is are places for you
Saudi Arabia, Pakistan.
Swift retribution, little concern about justice.
March 9, 2011 at 4:42 pm | Report abuse |
Jay
But the murder rate WON'T drop. Don't you understand?
Phil, DUDE get serious and Jay how do you know it wont work????? We dont do it in public now, but if we did, who knows what effect it will have..... GUYS, I hope and pray that you never lose a loved one becasue some freaken thug that does not care about human life kills them. But should that happen, I wonder how your feeling about the death penalty will be then..... These thugs that do not care about human life, why should we be concerned if they are put to death??????????? They dont care when they kill, they are no better than a wild animal that kills.
The death penalty is medieval and abhorrent. Life in prison is more punishment, errors can be corrected (wrongful conviction) and imprisonment is far less expensive.
We as a society have created and allowed this to happen with people in general. It is not our right to determine someones death. That's God's right, not ours. It's as plain and simple as that.
death penalty as a deterrent to others. LOL. one name: Jesus Christ
? That comment makes little to no sense...
@geez, it makes a lot of sense. He was executed by the proper authorities for a crime that warranted the death penalty so it must have been a just execution, right?
Illinois should be proud. They are many levels ahead of other states (including my own) in civilazation
outstanding news. today illinois has finally left medieval history behind. next up: maryland!!
The Governor did the right thing. The death penalty is more about revenge than anything else. There has not been a single person killed by an inmate in solitary in a Supermax prison since they were first created. A life sentence in a Supermax, prevents the convict from killing again. We don't always get convictions right, and even with appeals, many innocent people are denied relief. On appeal the Courts presume that the trial court got it right unless it is nearly certain that they got it wrong. This means that all of the people convicted on cases where there was probably reasonable doubt but not clear and convincing evidence of innocence never get relief. Its time for the US to join the rest of the modern world and outlaw the death penalty.
Sure I agree after seening several questionable cases and other proven that the person found guilty was actually innocent. But at the same time, we do not need to provide a country club atmosphere to those that are found guilty, giving them 3 excellent meals a day, exercise room, TV, access to the general prision population etc. They should live out the rest of their lives in a cell alone that is the standard 6 x 23 with a bunk, a toilet, sink, and light that is controlled from the outside. Let them have a chance to prove they are innocent, as every convict says they are. If proven innocent, or not guilty however you want to look at it, then that person should be compensated by the state at the Federal minimum wages schedule for each year they are in prision, charged to the state they are jailed in. This would prevent the DA from railroading real innocent people into jail on very flawed or manufactured evidence. DA's should be held accountable for their actions as a procecutor as well, be subject to being disbarred. They should not be involved in any review of a case to prevent any predjudice from entering the process. That is when Lady Justice works the best.
"excellent meals"...hmm, been to jail lately? No so excellent.
Pat Quinn is a sad excuse for a democrats I'm ashamed to be o e now these POS need to die geuss I'll have to go to IL and be like Dexter since the state won't avenge the victems. Oh well at least I'll be able to get a lot of blood slides from all the trash I'll kill.
Trash you'll kill??? Are you saying you would commit suicide???
The basic problems that occur when a society lacks a good education can easily be seen in the rantings on this board. The argument is not whether or not the GUILTY should be executed or not. Rather, the problems with our system that is set up to railroad the NOT-GUILTY into conviction, and often execution, based on the same ignorance that is shown here.
I am currently studying criminal law with an eye towards being a public defender, and let me tell you that the amount of innocent people who are convicted in this country is shameful.
Further, as long as people cannot be critical enough to discern an argument of relevance on an internet board, how can we possibly be given the power to kill someone based on a less than stellar conviction rate?
This is just Illinoisan opinion:
QUINN is an IDIOT.