The Illinois Coalition Against the Death Penalty has issued a new report, ​“Questioning a Broken System: Capital Punishment in Illinois in 2003,” an in-depth review of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment in Illinois fol­low­ing actions by the for­mer gov­er­nor and the leg­is­la­ture to address sys­temic flaws in the state’s death penal­ty sys­tem. The report notes that pros­e­cu­tors con­tin­ue to aggres­sive­ly seek the death penal­ty, but pub­lic skep­ti­cism is grow­ing over the use of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment. For exam­ple, 80% of jurors who con­sid­ered impos­ing a death sen­tence in 2003 reject­ed it, and only two death sen­tences were hand­ed down through­out the year.
The report includes the following sections: 

  • The reac­tion of the pub­lic to for­mer Governor Ryan’s death row com­mu­ta­tions and par­dons, and the effect of the ongo­ing death penal­ty cri­sis on public opinion.
  • The results of State’s Attorney’s offices bring­ing death penal­ty cas­es in greater Illinois.
  • The results of the Cook County State’s Attorney office bring­ing death penalty cases.
  • The costs asso­ci­at­ed with con­tin­ued use of the death penalty.
  • Legislative efforts to reform the cap­i­tal punishment system.
  • Exonerations and inves­ti­ga­tions of the cap­i­tal punishment system. 
(ICADP Press Release, January 27, 2004) Read the Report.– Read the Executive Summary.– Read ICADP’s state­ment. See Resources.
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