By Lauren N. Johnson
As the clock ticks down on Gov. Pat Quinn’s time to make a decision, advocates of repealing Illinois’ death penalty today urged him to sign the abolition measure that legislators approved in January.
Members of Witness to Innocence, a national organization of exonerated death row inmates, continue to push for elimination of the death penalty in Illinois as well as in other states.
Four states – New Mexico, New Jersey, New York and Maryland – have abolished the death penalty within the past year.
According to a spokesperson for Quinn, he is reviewing the bill and has until March 18 to take action. He can sign the measure into law or veto it and send it back to the legislature to take up during the fall veto session. Quinn has 60 days to make up his mind about legislation after the General Assembly sends it to his desk. If he does not act on the bill, it will automatically become law.
“There’s always going to be wrongful convictions. We see it in cases where guys are doing life without parole that are released after 30 years with DNA. At least they are alive to prove their innocence,” said Randy Steidl, secretary of the group, who was wrongfully convicted of a double murder in downstate Paris, Ill., in 1987.
Steidl added, “On death row, you have a procedural clock and there are certain procedures and hurdles that you have to go through to prove your innocence, and if you cannot meet that burden, that clock stops and you are executed.”
Delbert Tibbs said he was also wrongfully sentenced to death row and spent three years in Florida’s death row system. Tibbs said he recommends that those currently on Illinois’ death row not be executed and should be sentenced to different punishments fitting their individual crimes.
“It is literally less expensive, both morally and in the material realm, to mete out another kind of punishment rather than that of killing people,” said Tibbs, highlighting the financial benefits of using other alternatives to the death penalty.
Rep. Dennis Reboletti, an Addison Republican, and Sen. Kirk Dillard, a Hinsdale Republican, plan to hold a news conference tomorrow on their legislation to reinstate the death penalty if Quinn signs the abolition bill. Check back for coverage of the event.
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yes minimum wage needs to go up but so do other ppl's wages and the cost of living wage. to come back to illinois is a nice touch .
but to compensate for such in increase they need to cut business taxes , and increase sales taxes , and bc the ppl make more money they can pay more in taxes . also a nice touch would be to make tickets based on a percentage not flat fees and every one should pay the same tax rate eliminate a lot of loop holes and get rid of a lot of welfare programs . such as free books , and free lunch , free breakfast would save the state a lot of money . we should be copying the top states to live in and do business in . copy canada for its education .
for those that say what about us or employees or employers it is extremely rude to say go back to school and get skills . I know plenty of ppl with a lot of skills that make no money and plenty of ppl with no skills and education that make a lot of money .
education and skills do help but if there are no jobs you will have to take a job making minimum wage . or if there is to many ppl in your field of study means less demand so they don't pay. so i say every one go be a politician or an actor bc those jobs need no talent and pay well .
if there a floor level of pay there should be a ceiling . there should be no minimum wage law it should be based on supply and demand and percentages of how hard you work and what you do for a living based of off a business community. tips and commission should never belong to a company thats what the employees earned .
if you run a factory you have different lines of employment which should have the same pay per line but more ppl to divide the money .
percentage work the best in my experience no wages can ever make an economy work as efficiently as percentages .
when the employer raises prices he has to raise employees wages do to the prices of product of life - cost of living . just imagine a scale u stand on one side and the employees on the other you keep gaining weight and he keeps losing weight you killed the poor skinny guy - you killed the economy. society
obama has to many regulations need less but bush jr had no regulations and killed economy . need to go in the middle which is the only thing these 2 fools didnt try .
plus if they raise minimum wage it weakens the dollar bc more bills are printed . the end good macro economics bad micro economics need to have both good to equal good economics .
if you do not understand do not reply !
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