David Anderson (217)525-1760

Issued in June, 2002

 
STATE BAR URGES DEATH PENALTY REFORMS BEFORE ANY EXECUTIONS IN ILLINOIS

The Illinois State Bar Association (ISBA) will testify later this week in favor of 76 of the 85 recommendations contained in the Governor's Commission on Capital Punishment.

The 201-member policy-making Assembly of the state's largest legal organization voted Saturday on the recommendations. It also voted to support a moratorium on application of the death penalty until such time as the recommendations of the Commission are substantially enacted.

"We share the belief of the Governor's commission that the capital punishment system must be fair, just and accurate," said Loren S. Golden, newly installed president of ISBA. "Anything less casts an unacceptable cloud over our entire justice system."

Delegates to the ISBA Assembly - lawyers elected from all parts of Illinois - debated the recommendations of the Governor's commission and voted to support all but nine of the recommendations. ISBA representatives will offer testimony to the Illinois House Judiciary Committee at its hearing on Thursday, June 27.

Included among the recommendations ISBA supports is one calling for creation of a state-wide review committee to consider a local prosecutor's decision to seek the death penalty. The Assembly also voted to support a reduction in the number of death penalty eligibility factors to five from the current list of more than twenty.

ISBA stopped short of taking a position on whether the death penalty should be a sentencing option in Illinois. "Our commitment, through the expertise of many of our members, is to suggest improvements in the system," Golden said. "We believe it is essential that reforms be enacted before use of the death penalty resumes in Illinois."

Previously, the ISBA proposed reforms in the qualifications of attorneys who handle death penalty cases. Those reforms were expanded and adopted by the Illinois Supreme Court when it created the Capital Litigation Trial Bar.