The Illinois Senate appears poised to permanently abolish the death penalty in the state, and part of the credit belongs to the work of the Medill Innocence Project, lawmakers said Monday.
The state senate could vote as soon as Tuesday on SB3539, which would replace the state’s decade-long moratorium on the death penalty with a permanent ban. Approval would send the bill to Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn, who supports the moratorium but has not said publicly whether he would sign the permanent ban.
The state house voted 60-54 on the second try Thursday to approve its version of the bill.
“I think it’s an incredibly important piece of legislation that will have a great impact for a long time,” said State Rep. Robyn Gabel, D-Evanston, who co-sponsored the bill.
Gabel credited the Innocence Project, a Northwestern program that enables journalism students to investigate serious convictions in which there is evidence that the outcome was unjust, with showing legislators that the legal system is flawed and often convicts innocent people.
Medill Prof. David Protess, the director of the Innocence Project, said the house’s passage of the bill was “very gratifying” to those who have been wrongfully convicted. The project has discovered evidence that has freed five innocent people from death row.
“Abolition will help the death row exonerees feel that the time they served was not entirely in vain,” Protess said. “If there’s any purpose to someone being wrongfully convicted and on death row, it’s to show that the law is fundamentally flawed, and this is a step to fixing it.”
The project is widely credited with causing Republican Gov. George Ryan to issue a moratorium on executions in 2000 while he created a commission to study the issue. Democratic Govs. Rod Blagojevich and Quinn continued the moratorium. Abolition is considered by some to be a natural next step.
But approval of the bill is not a given. Despite signs of optimism, Gabel characterized the debate in the state senate as an “uphill battle,” and Protess said it is “not at all clear” if Quinn supports the measure.
Opponents of the bill argue that the death penalty serves as a deterrent to would-be criminals and should be kept as an option for particularly heinous crimes. They also point out it can provide closure for victims’ loved ones.
“Those of us who are opposed certainly want justice for victims and victims’ families,” said State Sen. Tim Bivins, R-Dixon, a former county sheriff. “I don’t think it should be applied to every case, but it should certainly be an option.”
State Sen. Jeff Schoenberg, D-Evanston, did not respond to messages requesting comment.
Mark Iris, a professor of criminal justice at NU and former executive director of the Chicago Police Board, said “it is hard to attribute much impact to the death penalty” because it is rarely used. He added that the cost of litigating death penalty cases is “astronomical” because death row inmates often have access to free and skilled legal counsel.
Each death penalty case can cost $5 million on pre-trial investigations alone, said Rob Warden, executive director of NU’s Center on Wrongful Convictions, which works closely with the Innocence Project.
“It’s absolutely obscene,” said Warden, adding that the bill would make Illinois the third state to ban the death penalty, behind New Jersey and New Mexico.
Protess acknowledged that the cost issue has spurred the bill toward passage, especially considering the current economic climate. Any cost savings would be distributed to law enforcement programs and crime victims, he said.
But abolition would also send a strong non-economic impact about the value of life, Protess said.
“It would be a very special day if that happens,” he said.
