Durbin: States should not impose death penalty

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — States should not impose the death penalty because of the difficulty in administering it fairly, although the federal government should retain that authority in cases involving terrorism or treason that endanger many lives, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin said.

Durbin told The (Springfield) State Journal-Register that he had always supported the death penalty, but has come to believe that "life in prison is penalty enough." He said that view was influenced partly by those of the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun and retired Justice John Paul Stevens.

"They both at the end of their careers came to the same conclusion: that after a lifetime of supporting the death penalty and trying to make it fair, that we had largely failed as a nation, and I cannot escape their wisdom on this issue," said Durbin, the second-ranking member in the Senate. "I really believe that on reflection, the burden is now on those supporting the death penalty to prove its fairness."

Although his comments come as Gov. Pat Quinn decides whether to sign a bill passed by the Illinois General Assembly that would end the death penalty in Illinois, Durbin said he is not trying to tell Quinn what he should do.

"I will not lobby him, because I think it's a matter of conscience," Durbin said.

Quinn supports the death penalty but has also kept in place the moratorium on capital punishment instituted in 2000 by former Gov. George Ryan, after the death sentences of 13 men were overturned and Ryan concluded the state's death penalty system wasn't working.

In some of those 13 cases, evidence showed the suspects were innocent. In others, the trials were deemed unfair or confessions were found to be coerced by abusive police. Since then, the number of overturned capital cases has risen to 20.

Prosecutors say significant reforms have been put in place since the moratorium was imposed, including more money and training for defense attorneys, videotaped interrogations and easier access to DNA evidence.

Source: Chicago Tribune, January 18, 2011

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