A new report by Rob Warden (pic­tured), Executive Director of the Center on Wrongful Convictions, explores the con­di­tions that led to the end of Illinois​’s death penal­ty in 2011. Warden says abo­li­tion came about because of a series of for­tu­itous cir­cum­stances, but also because of the work of count­less attor­neys, aca­d­e­mics, jour­nal­ists and activists who took advan­tage of these devel­op­ments. The cav­al­cade of exon­er­a­tions from death row, includ­ing the high-pro­file release of Anthony Porter, who was freed through the work of jour­nal­ism stu­dents, under­scored the flaws in the death penal­ty. Police abuse and pros­e­cu­to­r­i­al mis­con­duct caused an ero­sion of pub­lic con­fi­dence in the death penal­ty sys­tem. Finally, the report of the Capital Punishment Reform Study Committee, find­ing that the state could have saved $200 mil­lion if it end­ed the death penal­ty in 2000, great­ly impact­ed the move­ment for repeal. Warden not­ed that what hap­pened in Illinois car­ried over to oth­er states and said he believes, ​“The future of the move­ment [to end the death penal­ty] hinges on how the argu­ments that car­ried the day in Illinois, New Jersey, New Mexico, and Connecticut res­onate in the thir­ty-three states where death penal­ties remain in force but have fall­en increas­ing­ly into dis­use.” The report is pub­lished in the Journal of Law and Inequality.

(R. Warden, ​“How and Why Illinois Abolished the Death Penalty,” 30 Law & Inequality 245 (2012)). Read more arti­cles about the death penal­ty. See Recent Legislation.

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