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GOVERNOR'S PLAN FOR SWEEPING DEATH PENALTY REFORM OFF TABLE Illinois Lawmakers Focusing on More Narrow Alternative By Ryan Keith, The Associated Press, Reported in Las Vegas Review-Journal, 11-24-02, P. 13A SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - When Gov. George Ryan ordered a moratorium on executions in Illinois nearly three years ago, there was talk of a sweeping overhaul of the state's death penalty system. Chances of that happening now are slim. State lawmakers have set aside Ryan's proposal and are focusing on a more narrow alternative. The Republican governor and other death penalty critics argue that a plan being pushed by Senate Republicans does not do enough to fix the problems that have led to 13 people being wrongly sent to death row in Illinois during a period when 12 others were put to death. "These are little old Band-Aids these people are talking about," said Bill Ryan, executive director of the Illinois Death Penalty Moratorium Project. Critics say bigger changes must be made now because the drive to improve the system may lose momentum once Ryan leaves office in January. And only three more days are scheduled in the fall legislative session, giving lawmakers little time to act and Ryan little time to lobby for his plan. Some of the governor's legislative allies say that while the new proposal doesn't go as far as they would like it is a start that can be built upon when Democrats take over the Legislature and the governor's office in January. "All you've got to do is wait about two months and we'll be in charge, so we can take up all those issues," said Democratic state Sen. John Cullerton. "But for now, let's take what they're willing to give." Senate Republicans defend their proposal as the right mix of changes for the death penalty system and say their proposals are the only ones that have enough support to pass. Illinois' death penalty system has been in the national spotlight since January 20000, when Ryan declared a moratorium on executions because more death row inmates had won exoneration than had been executed since 1977. Ryan's commission on death penalty reforms recommended about 85 changes in the handling of capital cases this spring. When legislators failed to act on them, Ryan pared down the proposals to 25. The Senate Republican's proposal includes some of the commission's recommendations: expanding DNA testing access to capital defendants, speeding up clemency requests and banning the execution of mentally retarded inmates. However, it leaves out some of the more sweeping changes Ryan wanted, such as requiring police to videotape confessions and reducing the factors that make defendants eligible for the death penalty. Instead, it would give the Supreme Court the power to throw out death sentences in cases where the court finds the punishment is not deserved. Ryan spokesman Dennis Culloton said that provision is flawed because the decisions would not be considered legal precedent that future inmates could use to boost their own arguments. "It might expedite things for some inmates, but it really wouldn't create the kind of systematic reform that we need to consider here," Culloton said. WORKING TOGETHER TO ATTAIN FAIRNESS | ||
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