Emptying Death Row

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Emptying Death Row
by James Hall, Senior Associate Editor

Januay 17, 2003

"Leaning Left"

James Hall "Our capital system is haunted by the demon of error." - outgoing Illinois Governor George Ryan (R)

In his last weekend in office, Illinois Governor George Ryan could have quietly packed his bags and planned his retirement. Instead he made one of the most controversial decisions of the New Year and pardoned four death row inmates who maintained they had been tortured into confessing to crimes they didn't commit. Then he commuted the death sentences of the remaining 156 inmates to life in prison. Why would a self-professed believer in the death penalty do such a thing?

Because the capital punishment system is broken. Ryan could have turned his back on the problem and left it to the next governor, Rod Blagojevich. He could have closed his eyes, like former Texas Governor George W. Bush, who said that he had confidence in the judicial system and in the work of law enforcement and then affixed his name to death warrants. But Governor Ryan, who in his term of office observed 13 death row inmates gain their freedom from a system that had falsely accused, tried, and convicted them, finally lost confidence in the justice system.

Those who demand blood for blood, the ancient law of Hammurabi's Code, will no doubt be disappointed and even outraged at Ryan's act. But the public will be just as safe with murderers behind bars for life as with them dead, and Ryan won't have to live with what he estimated was a 60% chance of executing the wrong man.

Why commute the death sentences of 156 convicted murderers? Because the death penalty is the only state sanction that can't be undone. Overzealous arrest and prosecution can be remedied, wrongful imprisonment can be reversed, but death is forever.

In Illinois the system proved fallible. Police and prosecutors, eager to put the stamp "Solved" on every murder case, coerced poor citizens into confessions without corroborating evidence. Public defenders hired for the poor had no training in capital cases and no resources to hire expert witnesses or track down alibis that would generate reasonable doubt in a jury's mind. An overworked judiciary rubber-stamped appeals coming across their desks.

The problems are hardly limited to Illinois. Ten states are currently reviewing their capital punishment systems after finding disturbing problems. Here in Florida, the state has executed 54 people and released 24 from death row since 1976, most due to evidence problems. It's clear that the system is seriously flawed, and there's absolutely no evidence that capital punishment is more effective than life imprisonment.

While it may be viscerally satisfying to see someone who commits a vile crime put to death, the risk of killing innocent, poorly defended citizens should give us all pause. It could be us next, accused, tried, and convicted on little evidence. ***

James Hall
Orlando, Florida, USA

Photo of the author courtesy of staff files