Death row moratorium step in right direction

In what was considered a bold move several months ago, Illinois Republican Governor George Ryan flew to Cuba to meet with President Fidel Castro and other Cuban officials and called for normalizing relationships with the island nation.

On Jan. 31, the governor again went against the grain and called for a moratorium on the state�s death penalty executions.

"There is no margin for error when it comes to putting a person to death," the Governor correctly stated. "Until I can be sure that everyone sentenced to death in Illinois is truly guilty � no one will meet that fate."

Whatever the governor�s motivation for ceasing Illinois executions, at least for now, it is a step in the right direction. But there are many more reasons that death sentences should be stopped.

Those reasons include the lack of access to competent legal representation for the poor in capital punishment cases and the impact of race as a determining factor of who gets the death penalty. Also, there are the crooked state prosecutors who will knowingly railroad an innocent person to death row simply to further their political careers.

A Chicago daily newspaper recently printed a scathing series on such activities by prosecutors. And 13 Illinois death row inmates have been released because their convictions were overturned.

Gov. Ryan�s announcement comes as a federal investigation delves into a licensing bribery scandal that occurred while he was Illinois secretary of state. A lot of the money from the scandal found its way into Mr. Ryan�s campaign coffers, according to reports. Some critics say the governor is not concerned about saving innocent lives, only saving himself by diverting media attention from the scandal.

It is a fact that he still favors the death penalty. And he has rejected past calls for a moratorium. Nevertheless, the governor�s call may spark activity in other states toward similar moratoriums.

That would be good for those innocent inmates who are awaiting execution. Now if we can only get politicians serious about getting rid of the flaws in the criminal justice system that send innocent people to prison and to death row in the first place.