Publications & Testimony

Items: 6001 — 6010

Jan 06, 2004

For the First Time, No Death Sentences in Chicago in 2003

In the year since for­mer Illinois Governor George Ryan’s deci­sion to grant clemen­cy to all those await­ing exe­cu­tion in the state, no one has been sen­tenced to death in Cook County, which includes Chicago. This marks the first time since Illinois rein­stat­ed cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment in 1977 that the coun­ty has not had a death sen­tence. Cook County has his­tor­i­cal­ly sent the high­est annu­al num­ber of defen­dants to death row. Although Illinois cur­rent­ly has a moratorium on…

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Jan 05, 2004

States Slow to Implement ABA Defense Counsel Guidelines

More than a year after the American Bar Association over­whelm­ing­ly passed guide­lines to raise the qual­i­ty of defense coun­sel in death penal­ty cas­es, no state has adopt­ed the stan­dards and the ABA con­tin­ues to voice con­cern that tri­als are pro­ceed­ing under​“a sys­tem that is des­per­ate­ly bro­ken.” Although the ABA does not take a posi­tion on cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment oth­er than their oppo­si­tion to exe­cut­ing juve­niles and those with men­tal retar­da­tion, the…

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