Voices
Last Saturday, Illinois Governor George Ryan emptied the state’s death row, declaring the system “arbitrary and capricious—and therefore immoral.” Governor Ryan commuted 167 death sentences to life in prison. This bold move by the governor came at the conclusion of three years of study of the death penalty system in Illinois that was spurred on by the discovery of 13 innocent convicts in the state’s death row.
By
the Voice Staff
January 16, 2003