A recent edi­to­r­i­al in the Chicago Tribune urged Gov. Pat Quinn to sign the bill to end the death penal­ty in Illinois. The paper not­ed that for­mer Gov. Bill Richardson signed a sim­i­lar bill in New Mexico, despite pre­vi­ous­ly say­ing he sup­port­ed the death penal­ty when he came into office. Richardson said that his mind was changed after study­ing the issue and see­ing ​“too many mis­takes” and evi­dence that the pun­ish­ment was applied dis­pro­por­tion­ate­ly to minori­ties. The Illinois bill would divert state funds used for cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment to a fund for mur­der vic­tims’ ser­vices and law enforce­ment. The edi­to­r­i­al stat­ed: ​“Illinois [has] sent at least 20 inno­cent men to death row .…Taxpayers have spent more than $122 mil­lion in 10 years to send 15 new pris­on­ers to death row, but the mora­to­ri­um remains in place because the sys­tem can’t be trust­ed.” Gov. Quinn has until March 18 to take action on the bill. Read full edi­to­r­i­al below.

Richardson on death penal­ty ban: ​‘Sign it’
Ex-New Mexico leader urges Illinois’ Gov. Pat Quinn to do as he did and end death penalty
 February 28, 2011

During his first term as gov­er­nor of New Mexico, Bill Richardson sent a clear sig­nal to law­mak­ers who had long hoped to abol­ish the death penal­ty in that state: ​“Don’t bring it up. I’ll veto it.”

But two years ago, mid­way through his sec­ond term, they sent him a bill. He signed it.

It was a gut-wrench­ing call. Long a sup­port­er of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment, Richardson had become trou­bled about the risk of wrong­ful exe­cu­tions. So he set up a hot­line to hear from cit­i­zens. He sift­ed through thou­sands of let­ters and e‑mails. He sought the coun­sel of cor­rec­tions offi­cials and law enforce­ment offi­cers and met with fam­i­lies of mur­der vic­tims. He prayed. He anguished. Hours before the dead­line — mid­night March 18, 2009 — he shut him­self in his office and made the decision.

All of that no doubt sounds famil­iar to Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn, who has a sim­i­lar bill on his desk. Even the dead­line is the same: March 18.

Quinn has heard from pros­e­cu­tors and defense attor­neys, judges and law enforce­ment experts, for­mer death row inmates exon­er­at­ed by DNA evi­dence and a Catholic nun whose book inspired the movie ​“Dead Man Walking.” He’s tak­en calls from South African Bishop Desmond Tutu and actor Martin Sheen. His lieu­tenant gov­er­nor has urged him to sign the bill; the state’s attor­ney gen­er­al wants him to veto it.

Richardson told us he has­n’t spo­ken to Quinn about the bill, but if he did, ​“I’d rec­om­mend that he sign it.”

Like Quinn, he’d long believed exe­cu­tion was an appro­pri­ate pun­ish­ment for the most heinous crimes. He’d sup­port­ed it through­out 14 years in Congress and dur­ing his cam­paign for the Democratic pres­i­den­tial nom­i­na­tion in 2008.

He’d met with fam­i­lies of mur­der vic­tims and felt an emo­tion­al con­nec­tion with them. He was con­vinced the death penal­ty was a deter­rent to similar crimes.

But as he stud­ied the issue, he saw ​“too many mis­takes.” He met for­mer death row inmates who’d been exon­er­at­ed by DNA evi­dence. He saw evi­dence that the death penal­ty is applied dis­pro­por­tion­ate­ly to minori­ties. ​“I came to believe this was some­thing that gov­ern­ment was very bad at doing,” he said.

That part should sound famil­iar to Quinn too.

Illinois had sent at least 20 inno­cent men to death row by 2000, when then-Gov. George Ryan declared a mora­to­ri­um on exe­cu­tions. In 2003, Ryan com­mut­ed the sen­tences of 167 con­demned men and par­doned four others.

Lawmakers set out to reform the sys­tem but came up short. Under pres­sure to solve hor­ren­dous crimes, police and pros­e­cu­tors con­tin­ue to make the same mistakes.

Taxpayers have spent more than $122 mil­lion in 10 years to send 15 new pris­on­ers to death row, but the mora­to­ri­um remains in place because the sys­tem can’t be trust­ed. That’s why law­mak­ers passed the bill that awaits Quinn’s decision.

Richardson knows what it’s like to walk in those shoes. Decision day found him still con­flict­ed after a sleep­less night. In the morn­ing, he attend­ed Mass; in the after­noon, he toured the cell block where mur­der­ers are housed to sat­is­fy him­self that life with­out parole is a suit­ably strong pun­ish­ment. He made a few more calls. Then he signed the bill.

“My con­science feels good, but I’m still trou­bled,” he told reporters. It was a star­tling con­fes­sion, com­ing from a politi­cian known for res­olute con­fi­dence. But two years lat­er, those doubts are gone.

“I believe it was the right deci­sion,” Richardson said.

We think so too. Gov. Quinn, it’s up to you.

(“Richardson on death penal­ty ban: ​‘sign it’,” Chicago Tribune (edi­to­r­i­al), February 28, 2011). Read more Editorials on the death penal­ty. See Recent Legislative Activity.

Citation Guide