Death penalty package good for state

Our Word
Daily Egyptian

When 13 men were released from death row because of faulty convictions in 2000, former Gov. George Ryan halted executions with a moratorium. Just days before leaving office, he pardoned four more condemned men and commuted the sentences of the other 167 death row inmates to life in prison. Ryan's actions thrust the death penalty into the national spotlight and forced lawmakers to take a closer look at their own death penalty laws.

While the moratorium is still in place in Illinois, a new governor has filled Ryan's shoes, and death penalty legislation has been sent back and forth between governing bodies with vetoes and amendments. After more than a year of debate, the newest version of this package passed unanimously through the Senate last Friday and is expected to pass in the House as well.

Debate certainly kept the bill from moving forward in a prompt manner, but this is not a topic to be lightly considered.

A veto from Gov. Rod Blagojevich came this summer over a provision concerning decertifying police officers that commit perjury. He urged the sponsors of the bill and police organizations to reach a compromise while still keeping the package strong.

Before Blagojevich gave the legislation an amendatory veto in the summer, the provision would have required the state's Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board to investigate every accusation made by every homicide defendant. While the officer would be under investigation, he or she could be suspended without pay. Once the investigation concluded, the board, which consists of mainly other law enforcement officials, would decide whether to decertify the accused officer.

Under the new language, the claims of perjury against an officer in a homicide case must pertain to the actual murder to even be considered for investigation. The board would also hold the right to review each complaint and make a decision based on its legitimacy, but if an investigation were performed, officers would not be placed on unpaid leave until the board made a decision.

Blagojevich's biggest complaint was about who would be making the decisions of decertification. Originally, the board would decertify officers by themselves. Blagojevich believed this process didn't allow officers reasonable due process of the law. The new provision requires the Illinois Labor Relations State Panel, an independent body that exists to enforce labor laws, to make the final decision. Also, the judicial process overrides the panel if the defendant has been convicted. The perjury complaints cannot be heard until the court has granted a new trial or post-conviction based on perjury.

Policies for police officers accused of perjury need to be strict but also fair. This new provision allows the law to do both.

As Tom Hammarstrom, Arizona's executive director of the state Peace Officer Standards and Training Board, told CNN, "You get to choose your doctor and lawyer. You don't get to choose your cop and in fact, the reverse is true. The cop chooses you."

Other issues covered in the bill include allowing courts to have the power to throw out a death sentence if the justices feel the ruling is fundamentally unfair. It also allows for justices to consider anyone with an IQ less than 75 to be mentally retarded and subsequently ineligible for the death penalty in most cases, and it requires all interrogations of cases involving death to be videotaped.

This legislation is a step in the right direction, and it could not have come at a better time, as Illinois is still trying to rebuild its criminal system.

We are thrilled the state legislation could come together to scrutinize and reform the state's death penalty system. We believe this is exactly what needed to be done to correct an obviously flawed procedure.

When deciding death as a form of punishment, the laws must be the strictest in order to not make a mistake, because capital punishment is not a subject to be taken lightly.

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