Chicago Sun-Times

Editorial

ILLINOIS/USA: Time to bury death penalty

Like an employee who has submitted his two weeks' notice and heads out to a 3-martini lunch--''What are they gonna do, fire me?" he figures-- Gov. Ryan is using the end of his political career for a decidedly impolitic purpose: to finally right the wrong that is the death penalty in Illinois.

 Ryan, formerly a staunch death penalty supporter, two years ago became the 1st governor in America to impose a moratorium on executions. Now, he is taking the moratorium to its logical conclusion: He is reviewing all 159 pending cases and could decide to commute all of those sentences to life in prison.

 (Other states have appointed commissions to study the issue, but have not imposed a moratorium, apparently figuring it's OK to continue executing prisoners while investigating whether the system that sentenced them is flawed. Go figure.)

 The state has a woeful track record on choosing which convicts it wants to kill. Since the death penalty was reinstated in 1977, 12 Death Row inmates are dead and 13 have been freed. That's freed as in exonerated. As in wrongly convicted. As in nearly killed for crimes they didn't commit.

 Increasingly, political leaders across America are beginning to admit that this whole death penalty thing has some problems. Too many incompetent lawyers, for one thing. Too little hard evidence, for another. Too many coerced confessions, for a 3rd. It all adds up to too many questionable convictions. And the general public is beginning to take note.

 "My sense is that around the country people are less supportive of the death penalty because of what happened in Illinois," said Richard Dieter, executive director of the Washington-based Death Penalty Information Center. ''They have seen that the system can make the ultimate mistake--sentence a completely innocent person to death--and do it numerous times. They're not at the point where they say 'let's get rid of it,' but they want to make changes."

 Change is good. But what about those folks sitting on death row now? It won't help them, which is why the governor is considering commuting all of their sentences to life in prison.

 A commission he appointed to study the death penalty is expected to deliver its report to the governor in the next few weeks. It's possible that after looking so closely at the state's legal system, the commission will recommend that the death penalty be abolished.

 I hope so, and not just because it has proven to be such a faulty system. There's another reason that ought to resonate with taxpayers everywhere: It's a huge waste of money.

 A 1993 study from Duke University found that North Carolina spent $2.16 million per execution more than it spent on a non-death penalty murder case when the criminal was sentenced to life in prison. Why? Because the costs of litigating a death penalty case--the initial trial and the lengthy appeals--are more expensive than the costs of trying a simple life imprisonment case.

 Likewise, a 1998 report from the Judicial Conference of the United States found that the cost of defending a suspect in a federal death penalty case is 4 times higher than defending a suspect in cases where the death penalty was not sought. Prosecution costs, meanwhile, were 67 % higher than the defense costs.

 And it's taxpayers who foot the bill--for both the defense and the prosecution.

 Sure, there's another way to hold down costs in death penalty case. We could streamline the legal process and limit the number of appeals. But in a state where 12 people have been executed and 13 have been exonerated, is giving prisoners fewer chances to prove their innocence really the way we want to go?