Legal News

Illinois Gov. to Sign Bill to Repeal Death Penalty

By Nathan Koppel

UPDATE:  It’s official. The governor of Illinois has signed into law a bill abolishing the death penalty, and he also today commuted the sentences of 15 people on death row.

The Land of Lincoln, it appears, will soon become the latest state to abolish the death penalty.

Illinois Governor Pat Quinn (pictured) has said he will sign legislation today to repeal the state’s death penalty, the Chicago Sun-Times reports.

"Illinois, I think we'll be on the right side of history," state legislator Karen Yarbrough, the bill’s chief House sponsor, told the newspaper.

All told, 15 states have abolished the death penalty, including, most recently,  New Mexico and New Jersey.

It’s not clear whether a signature by the governor would commute the death sentences of 15 men who are now on death row, the Sun-Times reports.

"I'd hope he'd probably commute those sentences,” Yarbrough said. “What else is he going to do? But that's his call. I look to hear that same information," she said. "Just to get to this point is, like, special. Know what I mean?"

Legislation is pending in other states to abolish the death penalty, including Maryland and Connecticut, in part due to concerns about the cost of administering the procedure. The number of executions, meanwhile, has trended downward of late.

That said, there are, of course, plenty of states that show no sign of a flagging commitment to the death penalty.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on March 09, 2011 (boomark / email).