A SMILE FROM THE BIG HOUSE
Illinois Governor Pat Quinn signed legislation making Illinois the 16th state to outlaw capital punishment today in a private ceremony in his Capitol office. Quinn was surrounded by longtime opponents of capital punishment but conspicuous by his absence was the man who arguably had the most to do with this momentous day - former Governor George Ryan.
It was Ryan who imposed the moratorium on capital punishment after Illinois became the poster state for blundering or worse, possibly framing numerous innocent men onto Death Row. Ryan, responding to public advocacy groups which uncovered errors, misfeasance and malfeasance leading to the exonerations, initiated the nation's first moratorium on the death penalty on January 30, 2000. Nearly three years later on January 11, 2003, three days shy of leaving office, Ryan commuted the death sentences of all 167 doomed souls on Illinois' death row to life imprisonment, arguing that the intervening three years since announcing the moratorium fully convinced him that the death penalty was a monstrous institution with no redeeming societal benefit whatsoever, and irretrievably broken.
Since my daughter was involved in the Northwestern Law School Center on Wrongful Convictions which helped exonerate several condemed men, I tuned into Governor Ryan's latter speech held, appropriately, at the Northwestern Law Center.
It turned out to be the single most moving and humane speech I've heard a public official give in sixty years of following public affairs. Given on a Saturday afternoon, most except death penalty partisans, both for and against, likely missed it. That is a shame. Every school in America should include Ryan's speech in civics class as an example of the high calling and enormous good a dedicated public servant can aspire to and achieve.
It is fitting, therefore, to give the Governor Ryan, still cooling his heals in the Big House long past the time that common sense and basic decency demands, the last word, on this momentous day, from the very last line of his magnificent speech:
"In the days ahead, I will pray that we can open our hearts and provide something for victims' families other than the hope of revenge. Lincoln once said: 'I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice.' I can only hope that will be so. God bless you. And God bless the people of Illinois".
Originally published at chicagotribune.com, March 9, 2011
It was Ryan who imposed the moratorium on capital punishment after Illinois became the poster state for blundering or worse, possibly framing numerous innocent men onto Death Row. Ryan, responding to public advocacy groups which uncovered errors, misfeasance and malfeasance leading to the exonerations, initiated the nation's first moratorium on the death penalty on January 30, 2000. Nearly three years later on January 11, 2003, three days shy of leaving office, Ryan commuted the death sentences of all 167 doomed souls on Illinois' death row to life imprisonment, arguing that the intervening three years since announcing the moratorium fully convinced him that the death penalty was a monstrous institution with no redeeming societal benefit whatsoever, and irretrievably broken.
Since my daughter was involved in the Northwestern Law School Center on Wrongful Convictions which helped exonerate several condemed men, I tuned into Governor Ryan's latter speech held, appropriately, at the Northwestern Law Center.
It turned out to be the single most moving and humane speech I've heard a public official give in sixty years of following public affairs. Given on a Saturday afternoon, most except death penalty partisans, both for and against, likely missed it. That is a shame. Every school in America should include Ryan's speech in civics class as an example of the high calling and enormous good a dedicated public servant can aspire to and achieve.
It is fitting, therefore, to give the Governor Ryan, still cooling his heals in the Big House long past the time that common sense and basic decency demands, the last word, on this momentous day, from the very last line of his magnificent speech:
"In the days ahead, I will pray that we can open our hearts and provide something for victims' families other than the hope of revenge. Lincoln once said: 'I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice.' I can only hope that will be so. God bless you. And God bless the people of Illinois".
Originally published at chicagotribune.com, March 9, 2011
posted by Walt Zlotow at 4:54 PM
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