Former Governor Ryan Speaks At Northwestern

Many people ask us why we have chosen Illinois as one of our target states. Illinois already has a moratorium on the death penalty and their capital justice system has been under so much scrutiny already that many believe it does not need any additional attention. I thought the same thing until I spoke to Shari Silberstein at Equal Justice USA and then later to other activists in the field.

Once Governor Ryan issued blanket clemency to all 167 men on death row, many people, including unfortunately funders, believed that most of the work to end the capital punishment system in Illinois had been done. Therefore, they cut back on funding to organizations fighting the death penalty and thus, many organizations had to cut their staffs back. This seems a bit short sighted considering the fact that we are still finding people innocent two years after Governor Ryan's historic decision.

Repeal would be the next logical step here but a huge one that needs resources. Governor Ryan gave a talk at Northwestern a few days ago about many of these same things. He said, "If you're going to take someone's life under a system that's not perfect, then you shouldn't have that system." He has become more vocal than ever about the abolition of the death penalty.

We are organizing a big screening of Deadline at The University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana for the five year anniversary of the moratorium on the death penalty at the end of January 2005. Governor Ryan will speak as well as the filmmakers and I am sure we will try to have a lively discussion about these same issues. We'll keep you posted.

Posted by Angela at 06:54 PM