Update! The bill past, Illinois abolished the Death Penalty! Read all about it here!
Way to go, Governor Quinn! You did the right thing.:-)
Illinois is only a moment away from signing a bill to abolish capital punishment! On the 11th January, 2011, the senate in Illinois voted to officially enact a bill which would rid that state of the Death Penalty. Illinois has been having disturbing reports of executing innocents, meaning wrongfully convicted people being caught up in a system which has brought about state sanctioned killings of innocents.
Read about the process here
And Amnesty International’s article here
And about some innocents that we’re wrongfully executed and put to death in Illinois here
I hope That Governor Quinn sings the bill. I have been against the Death Penalty all my life, and would be proud of my home country if another state says no to Capital Punishment. Not only have innocent people been executed, there is always the risk of innocent lives being exacted in the future to the cost of this horrible punishment. The Death penalty comes off also, to me, as hypocritical: a person, as an individual, can’t take a life, but the court and government can. By killing prisoners, who have killed to prove killing is wrong, doesn’t really send the message that murder (planned killing) is wrong. Just wrong if an individual does it; a group of people with higher power in a certain situations however do have the right to decide if someone gets to live or not.
Demonstration against the Death Penalty
To end human life isn’t ever fair. By killing a murderer we only go to his/her level.
A final note to make about the Death Penalty: it is not only used to put murderers to death. For instance, there are countries where the punishment for Homosexuality is exacted by this ultimate punishment, as well as many countries that will carry out executions for feeble and smaller crimes, for example theft.
Lethal Injection, one of many execution methods in the US
If you are interested in hearing arguments about Capital Punishment in the US, watch “Penn and Teller’s Bullshit” episode on the death penalty (Season 4, episode 3); it features a woman working at a death museum that specializes in details of what happens to humans while they are executed. The bits about the electric chair are the most terrifying and horrific part.
Andy Warhol's "The Chair"
For more on the Death Penalty, Click these links:
Amnesty’s reports on the number of executions in 2009
And Amnesty’s report on Countries which have altered or completely abolished the Death Penalty in recent years
Amnesty takes on Myths about the Death Penalty
Another report on possible convictions of Innocents put to Death in US
Ruby Soup with Pearl Juice 
lets keep on figting for the total No for death penalty!
Yes! Absolutely. 🙂
This From the Innocence Project:
There have been 266 post-conviction DNA exonerations in United States history. These stories are becoming more familiar as more innocent people gain their freedom through postconviction testing. They are not proof, however, that our system is righting itself.
The common themes that run through these cases — from global problems like poverty and racial issues to criminal justice issues like eyewitness misidentification, invalid or improper forensic science, overzealous police and prosecutors and inept defense counsel — cannot be ignored and continue to plague our criminal justice system.
* Seventeen people had been sentenced to death before DNA proved their innocence and led to their release.
* The average sentence served by DNA exonerees has been 13 years.
* About 70 percent of those exonerated by DNA testing are members of minority groups.
* In almost 40 percent of DNA exoneration cases, the actual perpetrator has been identified by DNA testing.
* Exonerations have been won in 34 states and Washington, D.C.
The Number of Verified State Killings should be enough to shock us into recoiling from the death penalty. Go to the site. Some are still sitting waiting for execution while know to be innocent!
Thank you so much for the statistics. Disturbing to read, but good to know.
The capital punishment has always been used as a somewhat political tool. Doesn’t surprise me that 70% of the exonerated where people from minority groups. A way to show minorities “their place” and to oppress them.
I’ll check the website you mentioned. If i find it, I’ll put a link to it on this post.