ILLINOIS DEATH PENALTY: CHICAGO SUN TIMES CALLS FOR ABOLITION OF DEATH PENALTY TO PREVENT EXECUTION OF INNOCENT PERSONS;

"We’ve seen the criminal justice system stumble too often — the mistaken eyewitness testimony, the false confessions, the misrepresented evidence — to believe that no innocent person could ever be executed. How many times must we see an exonerated person freed after decades in prison before we realize that other innocent people might never leave Death Row until they’re carried out on that gurney?"

CHICAGO SUN TIMES;

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"If a state insists on a death penalty, it does so with this knowledge: At some time and at some place, an innocent person will be executed," the Sun Times editorial published on January 15 2011 under the heading, "Editorial: Illinois should end the death penalty," begins.

"No system is perfect, no system is free of mistakes," the editorial continues.

"And that, above all other reasons, is why a state-sanctioned death penalty is unwise. A government cannot possibly impose capital punishment in a way that ensures it is on the right side of justice in every single instance.

The very idea of strapping someone to a gurney and injecting him with lethal drugs for a crime he did not commit should be sickening in a just society.

Last week, in a brave and stunning vote, the Illinois House of Representatives voted to abolish the death penalty in Illinois, 11 years after former Gov. George Ryan imposed a moratorium on executions. The bill now moves to the state Senate, where it could be voted on as early as today.

We urge the Senate to pass the bill, and we urge Gov. Quinn to sign it. Seize the moment.

We’ve seen the criminal justice system stumble too often — the mistaken eyewitness testimony, the false confessions, the misrepresented evidence — to believe that no innocent person could ever be executed. How many times must we see an exonerated person freed after decades in prison before we realize that other innocent people might never leave Death Row until they’re carried out on that gurney?

Supporters of the death penalty have been out in force in Springfield over the last few days, arguing that fears about wrongful executions are misplaced.

Recent reforms, they say, ensure that no innocent person could ever be executed in Illinois.

We supported each and every one of these reforms, and for years we took the position that the death penalty would be acceptable if the legal system could guarantee a fair trial that resulted in a verdict of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

But the steady uncovering of miscarriages of justice here and around the country have made it appallingly obvious that is a goal we just can’t reach.

In Illinois in recent years, 20 men have been freed from Death Row as the cases against them collapsed. Some of these men came very close to execution and were saved only by flukes — newly discovered evidence, a last-minute legal ruling, a Supreme Court election.

If we were on a bus that nearly drove off a cliff that often, we’d demand to get off. As a state, it’s time to abandon the death penalty. Supporters cite supposed benefits of the death penalty: deterrence, closure for victims or their loved ones, reducing costs and imposing a sentence that fits the most heinous of crimes.

But the ability of the death penalty to deter crimes is at best questionable (murders have declined in number since the death penalty moratorium was imposed). Closure is not provided by appeals that stretch on for years. Studies show it is far more expensive to attempt to execute someone than to keep him in prison for life. And making the punishment fit the crime hardly outweighs the risk of executing the innocent.

Would this mean that some future John Wayne Gacy might be spared execution? Yes. But better that than risk putting a single innocent man or woman to death. Any future Gacy would still rot away the rest of his life in a concrete cell.

In 1998, the Illinois Supreme Court declined to declare the death penalty unconstitutional. Instead, the court wrote: “This is emphatically a question for the Legislature.”

The Illinois House has courageously answered that question."

http://www.google.ca/search?q="sun+times"+death+penalty&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be accessed at:

http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith

For a breakdown of some of the cases, issues and controversies this Blog is currently following, please turn to:

http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=120008354894645705&postID=8369513443994476774

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;