A recent poll con­duct­ed by Lake Research Partners found that a major­i­ty of Illinois reg­is­tered vot­ers pre­fer an alter­na­tive sen­tence to the death penal­ty for those who com­mit mur­der. The poll­sters sur­veyed vot­ers in April, and found that 43% believed that the penal­ty for mur­der should be life with no pos­si­bil­i­ty of parole and a require­ment to make resti­tu­tion to the victim’s fam­i­ly. Another 18% felt that the penal­ty for mur­der should be life in prison with no pos­si­bil­i­ty of parole. Only 32% respond­ed that the penal­ty for mur­der should be death. The poll also found only 39% of reg­is­tered vot­ers even know that Illinois has the death penal­ty. Jeremy Schroeder, exec­u­tive direc­tor of the Illinois Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, attrib­uted this to a declin­ing mur­der rate and a declin­ing use of the death penal­ty in the state. There has not been an exe­cu­tion in Illinois since 2000, when then Governor George Ryan imposed a mora­to­ri­um on exe­cu­tions in the state. Between 1977, when cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment was rein­stat­ed in Illinois, and the mora­to­ri­um in 2000, Illinois freed 13 men from death row and put 12 to death.

(D. Finke, ​“Quinn favors death penal­ty mora­to­ri­um; Brady would lift it,” The State Journal-Register, July 15, 2010). See Life Without Parole or oth­er Public Opinion arti­cles about the death penalty.

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