Illinois Bans the Death Penalty

8 Comments

1. 

   Frank Schnittger on March 9, 2011 at 4:50 pm

   The death penalty is generally only required in primitive, war torn or highly unstable and repressive societies. Apparently Illinois no longer ticks those boxes…:-)

2. 

   seabe on March 9, 2011 at 5:07 pm

   Hooray for justice and for saving the tax payers millions (and billions as the road continues).

   And no, my state of Virginia has not eliminated the death penalty, and — along with Texas — prides itself in how many people we put to death per year.

   This was the first political position I’ve ever taken, officially. I remember it like it was yesterday. Oh sure, in 2nd grade I refused to stand up for the pledge of allegiance (and was sent to the principal’s office), but it’s not as defined a position as this. I might as well tell the story. Back in October of 2002, when I was 14, we had the Beltway Sniper Attacks. This was very scary because he was just killing people at random, and it was terrifying to walk around outside in public (I hated taking out the trash during this time). Well after he was finally caught, they were discussing punishment options, and they kept saying he’d get the death penalty. I thought this made zero sense. We’re going to teach someone how wrong killing is by executing him? I had many arguments over this event with locals, and being as it touched in our own community I suppose they were more attached, but I just didn’t think we should execute him.

   So yeah, from that moment on I opposed the death penalty in any circumstance. This was before I realized the legal arguments against it, the fact that it’s not a deterrent, and how much it costs the state taxpayers.

3. 

   TarheelDem on March 9, 2011 at 5:17 pm

   North Carolina abolish the death penalty?  What do you think?  No, and with the current Republican legislative majorities and a triangulating governor, it’s not going to happen soon.

   What would be interesting would be to itemize out the states among the countries.  Where would Texas fall in the list of countries?

4. 

   Lodus on March 9, 2011 at 6:01 pm

   We still have it in California, but our new Governor and Attorney General have taken strong stances against it in the past, so we’ll see what happens.

   Justices Marshall and Brennan already had this issue right many years ago…

5. 

   DaveW on March 9, 2011 at 6:13 pm

   As an Illinoisan, I don’t quite understand what’s happened to our once-purple state. As a national wave of neo-fascism crests across the nation, Illinois increased its income tax by 50%, recognized the legality of civil unions, and abolished the death penalty. All without a whole lot of hysteria of the kind that’s chronic elsewhere. And as a Democratic governor continues to be a national laughingstock and personification of corrupt government.

   Somehow the teabagger/wingnut contagion never took much hold here compared to much of the rest of the region. I suspect part of the explanation lies in our tradition of strong unions and our excellent public radio. Politically, the shift reflects a change in both the burbs and downstate. If I ever figure it out I’ll let ya’ll know so we can bottle it and export it to Michigan, Indiana, Iowa, and the rest of our “rust belt” contemporaries.

   • 

     Indianadem on March 9, 2011 at 8:23 pm

     Yeah, send some of that stuff over here, will ya? I’ve never understood the political differences between IL & IN. The Daley dynasty influence, maybe?

6. 

   Richard Bachman on March 9, 2011 at 6:33 pm

   Has your state abolished the death penalty?

   Fuck no.  My state has a real hard-on for the death penalty.  We just loooooooooove our lethal injection.

   Ohio executions on record pace

7. 

   JLG on March 9, 2011 at 6:49 pm

   Interesting.  This happens as Wisconsin is about to institute the death penalty for the first time in about 150 years, I think.