No alla Pena di Morte - NO to the Death penalty

NO alla Pena di Morte
Campagna Internazionale

ILLINOIS: After 2 years of study, Illinois panel says abolishing death penalty is not the answer

2 years after Illinois Gov. George Ryan halted executions, saying he couldn't trust the state's criminal justice system, a panel he named to examine the process is ready to recommend changes aimed at keeping innocent people off death row.

Abolishing capital punishment isn't among the proposals to be announced Monday, but the commission's report will include about 70 other recommendations for judges, prosecutors, defense attorneys and police, co-chairman Frank McGarr said.

''Many states and national leaders will look to see the recommendations that Illinois comes up with as a model for what else needs to be done in other states,'' said Richard Dieter, director of the Death Penalty Information Center in Washington, D.C., which researches capital punishment but takes no position on it.

Ryan imposed the moratorium on capital punishment in January 2000 after several cases in which men were freed from death row because new evidence exonerated them or there were flaws in the way they were convicted. Since the 1977 reinstatement of the death penalty in Illinois, 13 men have been freed while 12 have been executed.

"This is an issue that's larger than Illinois. Illinois has had 13 cases, but most of these cases are outside of Illinois and there are problems in those places as well," McGarr said.

McGarr, a retired federal judge, is not raising expectations about what will come of the commission's recommendations.

"The legislature will have to decide whether they're going to adopt our improvements," he said.

Details of the report weren't released before Monday's announcement, but proposals that were recommended by reform advocates and were likely to be mentioned include:

Standards of experience for lawyers who represent defendants in capital cases. Research on Illinois cases has turned up embarrassing examples of incompetent lawyers bungling cases.

Requiring videotaping of police interrogations. One man, Ronald Jones, confessed to murder but later said he made up the story to get police to stop beating him. He was exonerated by crime-scene DNA.

Limiting testimony from "jailhouse snitches" and single eyewitnesses. Cellmates have sent men to death row by testifying they heard the men confess to crimes. But these witnesses often get leniency in their own cases and some have proved unreliable. Cases that rest on single or questionable eyewitnesses also have fallen apart because of the unreliability of memories that fade.

Ryan's panel might get a cooler reception in the Illinois General Assembly than elsewhere in the nation. Ryan is a lame-duck governor weakened by a 4-year federal corruption probe that brought indictments earlier this month against his campaign committee and two former top aides. He has not been accused of any wrongdoing, but decided not to seek a 2nd term amid.

Some believe the General Assembly already has done enough.

Lawmakers have set up a trust fund to finance both prosecution and defense in capital cases and the Supreme Court adopted training and experience standards for lawyers and judges.

State Rep. Art Turner, sponsor of a bill that would substitute life in prison without parole for the death penalty, said neither legislative reticence nor Ryan's January departure will stand in the way of reform.

"Issues don't die or swing based upon who's in office," Turner said. "The momentum for your issue should continue. The death penalty issue, the momentum has been moving, and it's starting to pick up."

Ill. Panel Issues Death Row Report

Apr 14, 2002

By JOHN O'CONNOR,

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - Two years after Illinois Gov. George Ryan halted executions, saying he couldn't trust the state's criminal justice system, a panel he named to examine the process is ready to recommend changes aimed at keeping innocent people off death row.

"Many states and national leaders will look to see the recommendations that Illinois comes up with as a model for what else needs to be done in other states," said Richard Dieter, director of the Death Penalty Information Center in Washington, D.C., which researches capital punishment but takes no position on it.

"This is an issue that's larger than Illinois. Illinois has had 13 cases, but most of these cases are outside of Illinois and there are problems in those places as well," McGarr said.

McGarr, a retired federal judge, is not raising expectations about what will come of the commission's recommendations.

"The Legislature will have to decide whether they're going to adopt our improvements," he said.

Details of the report weren't released before Monday's announcement, but proposals that were recommended by reform advocates and were likely to be mentioned include:

_Standards of experience for lawyers who represent defendants in capital cases. Research on Illinois cases has turned up embarrassing examples of incompetent lawyers bungling cases.

_Requiring videotaping of police interrogations. One man, Ronald Jones, confessed to murder but later said he made up the story to get police to stop beating him. He was exonerated by crime-scene DNA.

_Limiting testimony from "jailhouse snitches" and single eyewitnesses. Cellmates have sent men to death row by testifying they heard the men confess to crimes. But these witnesses often get leniency in their own cases and some have proved unreliable. Cases that rest on single or questionable eyewitnesses also have fallen apart because of the unreliability of memories that fade.

Ryan's panel might get a cooler reception in the Illinois General Assembly than it would elsewhere in the nation. Ryan is a lame-duck governor weakened by a four-year federal corruption probe that brought indictments earlier this month against his campaign committee and two former top aides. He has not been accused of any wrongdoing, but decided not to seek a second term.

Some believe the General Assembly already has done enough.

Lawmakers have set up a trust fund to finance both prosecution and defense in capital cases and the Supreme Court adopted training and experience standards for lawyers and judges.

Major Illinois Death Penalty Study Urges Sweeping Changes

The Illinois Commission on Capital Punishment will release its two-year study of the death penalty today in Chicago. The report recommends 85 major reforms that need to be implemented at all stages in the capital punishment system, but unanimously concluded that "no system, given human nature and frailties, could ever be devised or constructed that would work perfectly and guarantee absolutely that no innocent person is ever again sentenced to death." Although the Commission did not formally recommend abolishing the death penalty, a majority of commission members favored such a move. Reforms urged by the commission include drastically limiting the circumstances in which the death penalty can be sought, requiring police to videotape interrogations, establishing a DNA database, and submitting all death penalty eligible cases to a state board for review.

The Commission was appointed two years ago by Governor George Ryan when he initiated a moratorium on executions in the state in response to the high number of people freed from death row. The Commission was charged with studying the death penalty in Illinois, and making recommendations to improve the fairness and accuracy of capital punishment. (Report of the Governor's Commission on Capital Punishment, Preamble, April 2002; New York Times, 4/15/02; and Chicago Tribune, 4/15/02) See the Illinois Commission on Capital Punishment Report

(http://www.idoc.state.il.us/ccp/ccp/reports/commission_reports.html), and the Illinois Commission on Capital Punishment's Web site (http://www.idoc.state.il.us/ccp/index.html).

Illinois Panel Urges Death-Penalty Reforms

Apr 15 2002

By Andrew Stern

CHICAGO - A task force on capital punishment set up by Illinois Gov. George Ryan issued sweeping recommendations on Monday on ways to ensure the state does not send innocent people to death row.

The task force report followed the unprecedented decision by Ryan, a Republican, in 2000 to suspend executions after several death-row inmates were found to be innocent.

"What we do will be watched by the rest of the country and the world," Ryan said in releasing the 207-page report containing 85 separate recommendations.

It did not take a stand on whether the death penalty should be abolished in the state -- though a majority of task force members favored tossing out the current law.

But in a cautionary note, the panel said, "No system, given human nature and frailties, could ever be devised or constructed that would work perfectly and guarantee absolutely that no innocent person is ever again sentenced to death."

According to the Death Penalty Information Center, in the last 29 years 100 people have been freed across the United States after being sentenced to death.

U.S. opinion polls show majority support for the death penalty has eroded significantly, with two-thirds of Americans now backing its use.

"Only the most horrible crimes justify the use of capital punishment," said retired federal judge Frank McGarr, the chairman of Ryan's handpicked task force.

He said 65 percent of convictions resulting in the death penalty had been overturned or reversed. "These are just a small portion of the cases handled by the courts. Imagine the errors and injustices."

His panel's recommendations included requiring police to videotape entire interrogations of murder suspects and not just the confession, to deter torture; closer scrutiny of witness testimony, particularly from jailhouse informants; and consideration of whether a defendant had been physically or emotionally abused.

The report suggested narrowing the criteria used to decide whether to impose the death sentence, which would reverse a trend toward widening them.

Multiple murderers and those who kill police officers or the witnesses to their crimes, for instance, would remain eligible for execution.

But murders carried out during the commission of another crime such as armed robbery or kidnapping should not attract the death sentence, the panel said.

The report urged creation of a permanent panel to review all decisions by state prosecutors to seek the death penalty. Judges in death penalty cases would have to agree with the jury in sentencing a convict to death.

It also urged Illinois to join nine other death penalty states that do not execute mentally retarded convicts.

In all, 38 states have death penalty laws on their books but the American Bar Association has called for a national moratorium on executions and opponents have grown more vocal.

But supporters of the death penalty said that while it had not been proved that any innocent person had been executed in the last decade, the risks of letting a murderer go free were clear.

"We have overwhelming proof that murderers harm and harm again," said Dudley Sharp of the group Justice for All.

Opponents of the death penalty said the report and Ryan's moratorium had helped turn the tide of the capital punishment debate toward abolition.

The National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty said the findings meant "supporters of the death penalty can no longer turn a blind eye to the problems that exist."

Former Democratic senator and task force member Paul Simon said that while Illinois did not show a pattern of racial discrimination in the way capital punishment was applied, several other states and municipalities did.

"The reality is the death penalty is reserved for people who don't have enough money to defend themselves adequately," Simon said.

Thomas Sullivan, another panel member, said the report had a clear message -- either "repair or repeal" the current law.

Illinois reinstated the death penalty in 1977 and between 1990 and the moratorium in 2000 it carried out 12 executions -- compared with 13 death row inmates who were exonerated.

Ryan said he would carefully study the report and the moratorium would remain "at least as long as I'm governor." His term is up in January and the two nominees vying to succeed him were noncommittal about the report's findings

Ill. Panel Wants Death Penalty Changes

Apr 15 2002

By ANDREW BUCHANAN,

CHICAGO - A panel formed after Gov. George Ryan halted executions two years ago recommended changes Monday aimed at keeping innocent people off death row, including videotaped police interrogations, a DNA database, and a ban on executing defendants convicted on testimony from a single eyewitness.

The panel did not call for an end to capital punishment, but a narrow majority of the 14 commission members said it should end because changes could not guarantee that innocent people would not be executed.

"The message from this report is clear. Repair or repeal. Fix the capital punishment system or abolish it," said Thomas Sullivan, a former U.S. attorney and co-chairman of the panel.

The panel's report contains 85 recommendations. The panel said it would be up to lawmakers to make the recommended changes, and acknowledged they would be costly.

But the panel said the changes would "answer the governor's call to enhance significantly the fairness, justice and accuracy of capital punishment in Illinois."

The report recommends cutting the 20 circumstances that warrant the death penalty to five: murdering more than one victim, killing a police officer or firefighter, killing an officer or inmate in a correctional institution, murdering to obstruct justice or torturing the victim.

The panel also recommended banning the death penalty for mentally retarded defendants and defendants convicted solely on testimony from a single eyewitness, informer or accomplice. The report also recommends creating a statewide DNA database and independent forensics lab.

The governor said he would study the report and discuss it with panelists.

"I'm not going to act in haste; I'm going to deliberate," Ryan said.

Ryan's moratorium on executions prompted other states to review their procedures. About 3,700 people await death for crimes committed in the 38 states that allow the death penalty.

Ryan imposed the moratorium after several cases in which men were freed from death row because new evidence exonerated them or because their convictions were legally flawed.

Since the 1977 reinstatement of the death penalty in Illinois, 13 men have been freed while 12 have been executed.

"This is an issue that's larger than Illinois. Illinois has had 13 cases, but most of these cases are outside of Illinois and there are problems in those places as well," Dieter said.

Cook County State's Attorney Richard Devine expressed concern that the proposed reforms were based on a "fundamental distrust of police officers" and could work to help the guilty.

"We must be careful that suggested procedures do not simply help suspects by making it impossible for police to conduct an effective investigation into our most heinous crimes," Devine said in a statement.

Lawmakers may be less likely to follow the panel's suggestions because Ryan, a Republican, is a lame-duck governor who has had his campaign committee and two former top aides indicted in a federal corruption probe. He has not been accused of any wrongdoing.

State Rep. Art Turner, sponsor of a bill that would substitute life in prison without parole for the death penalty, said he was confident lawmakers would support changes.

"Issues don't die or swing based upon who's in office," Turner said.

Lawmakers in the state have already set up a fund for prosecutors and defense attorneys in capital cases, and the Supreme Court has adopted training and experience standards for lawyers and judges.

Death penalty warnings A special commission in Illinois recommends new reforms and safeguards

April 16, 2002

When he was campaigning for governor eight years ago, then-candidate George Pataki struck a responsive chord with many New Yorkers in calling for a return to the death penalty. Since then, however, there have been good reasons for politicians everywhere, and the public, to pause. One recent example: Last week, Ray Krone of Arizona became the nation's 12th death row inmate to be cleared by DNA testing, and the 100th inmate since 1973 either to be freed or granted a new trial after having been sentenced to death, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. Those statistics are chilling. So is the grim fact that Mr. Krone had to spend 10 years in an Arizona prison before his innocence was established.Another recent example: A 14-member panel established by Gov. George Ryan of Illinois has recommended sweeping reforms in the way that the state administers capital punishment. Before naming the commission, the governor, a death penalty supporter himself, had placed a moratorium on capital punishment in Illinois after several inmates on death row were exonerated.While the commission stopped short of recommending a ban on capital punishment, saying it was not asked to consider that issue, it did note that a narrow majority of its members, who ranged from the lawyer-author Scott Turow to William Webster, former FBI director, favored abolition.Instead, the panel proposed numerous reforms that are intended to safeguard against sending innocent inmates to their death. The changes range from videotaping all aspects of interrogation to providing counsel to the accused on a more timely basis. But the most sweeping reform, and the one likely to spur the most controversy, would reduce the number of homicides eligible for capital punishment.If the panel's recommendation is upheld, Illinois would apply the death penalty only in cases involving multiple murders; murders of police officers, firefighters and witnesses; and homicides in prison or through torture.What happens in Illinois is being closely watched by the 37 other states that have the death penalty, including New York. For good reason. While no execution has yet been scheduled in New York, the number of capital convictions means it will only be a matter of time before that happens.To be sure, New York has taken pains to ensure that the accused in all capital cases receive adequate counsel, along with other safeguards to guard against miscarriages of justice. But the Illinois report is still useful, and Gov. Pataki should follow Gov. Ryan's example by insisting on a process that leaves no margin for error.

Journal Sentinel

Death penalty's anomalies

April 15, 2002

A blue-ribbon Illinois panel has recommended putting into place 85 additional safeguards to reduce the chances of sentencing innocent people to die. Its report, the result of two years of study, comes none too soon. Just last week, the nation reached a milestone - the 100th time in three decades that a defendant given the death penalty gained freedom because it was proved he was innocent after all.Thirteen such exonerations in Illinois had prompted Republican Gov. George Ryan to declare a moratorium on executions and to order the study - an example that deserves emulation in other states that practice capital punishment. The 100th national exoneration transpired in Arizona. And some states, such as Texas, seem even more careless than Illinois had been in protecting the innocent.Of course, the added safeguards will raise the cost of the death penalty even though their implementation cannot guarantee against the possibility of executing an innocent person. That almost surely was a major reason a bare majority of the commission concluded that the death penalty should simply be abolished rather than reformed. The commission did not make that logical conclusion an official recommendation. Nonetheless, the report should prompt Illinois and other death-penalty states to ponder abolition.The death penalty already takes a bigger bite out of the public treasury than does life imprisonment. (The punishment deepens investigations, prompts more pre-trial motions, adds more pre-trial jail time, complicates jury selection, lengthens trials, leads to the use of more expert witnesses, spurs more post-trial appeals and requires a death row - all of which add costs.) The price tags on the new measures, if adopted, could lead to cutbacks in other crime-fighting areas. Is the death penalty worth that?States could avoid the new costs by not adopting additional safeguards. But such a course is reckless. In any event, the relative cost of the death penalty vs. life imprisonment without parole is hardly the issue.The proposed reforms include steps that would reduce the number of cases eligible for the death penalty. For instance, the conditions that could trigger the penalty would be cut from 20 to five.Other measures to improve on the reliability of the process include videotaping of all police interrogations of capital suspects and establishing a statewide commission to approve a local prosecutor's decision to seek the death penalty.These measures would indeed lessen the possibility of convicting an innocent person. But, as the commission itself noted, they would not rule out that possibility.The best way to avoid errors that take an innocent life is to ban the death penalty. Short of that, though, the states that persist in it should not do so as recklessly as they do now. They should adopt the safeguards recommended in the Illinois report.

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on April 16, 2002.

PENA MORTE: USA, ILLINOIS RIDISEGNA LEGGE PER EVITARE ERRORI

13 CONDANNE INGIUSTE SCOPERTE IN 10 ANNI, CAMBIANO LE REGOLE

NEW YORK, 16 APR - Dopo aver deciso nel 2000 di sospendere tutte le esecuzioni, lo stato dell'Illinois ha completato una revisione delle modalita' di gestione della pena di morte che dovrebbe portare a regole piu' restrittive. Una commissione incaricata di studiare il problema, nominata dal governatore repubblicano George Ryan, ha stilato un rapporto di 207 pagine che si conclude con 85 raccomandazioni.

La commissione non ha sostenuto apertamente la necessita' di rinunciare alla pena capitale, ma ha sottolineato che nessun sistema giudiziario ''vista la natura e le debolezze degli uomini, potra' mai essere disegnato o costruito in modo da garantire che funzioni perfettamente e che nessuna persona innocente sia condannata a morte''.

Il governatore Ryan intende valutare a fondo le raccomandazioni della commissione, per decidere quali accogliere. ''Cio' che faremo sara' osservato dal resto del paese e del mondo'', ha sottolineato Ryan. In effetti le mosse dell'Illinois hanno rappresentato in questi anni un esempio del tipo di dibattito cui e' sottoposta la pena di morte, che gode ancora del sostegno della maggioranza degli americani, ma in percentuali sempre minori rispetto al passato.

Tra il 1990 e il 2000, l'Illinois ha giustiziato 12 persone,ma nello stesso decennio ha scoperto 13 casi di detenuti condannati a morte pur essendo innocenti. Una realta' che ha spinto il governatore, due anni fa, a ordinare la moratoria. Tra le varie raccomandazioni, c'e' quella di restringere i casi di pena capitale soltanto agli omicidi plurimi. Gli esperti hanno anche suggerito che sia stabilito per legge che il giudice e la giuria devono trovarsi d'accordo su una condanna a morte. La commissione, infine, ha invitato l'Illinois ad unirsi ad altri nove stati - su 38 nei quali negli Usa e' prevista la pena di morte - che hanno bandito le esecuzioni di ritardati mentali.