Practice News

At the end of a decade during which Illinois' death penalty system was the focus of much national and international attention and debate, the Illinois General Assembly's Capital Punishment Reform Study Committee (CPRSC) released its final report, which summarizes a six year study of reforms enacted in 2003, and makes recommendations for further reforms. The expert committee created by the Illinois General Assembly was comprised of appointees by leadership in both political parties, the Governor, and both prosecution and defense teams from around the state. The panel was chaired by Thomas P. Sullivan, former U.S. Attorney and co-chair of the Governor's Commission on Capital Punishment, whose 2002 report led to legislative reforms to Illinois' death penalty system. Both Illinois Governors since then have observed a moratorium on executions, while the CPRSC evaluated the impact and sufficiency of the enacted reforms. The extensive final report was sent to leaders in the Illinois General Assembly, and is now available online at the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority website listed below. At the final report release, CPRSC chair Sullivan said, "After six years of study and analysis, the Committee found several issues which still should be addressed in the Illinois capital punishment system, many the very same as those identified in April 2002 by the Governor's Commission. We also found that there is a tremendous additional cost entailed when the death penalty is sought, and what appears to be a trend by prosecutors to ask for the death penalty in order to shift costs from the local counties to the State, and to increase their bargaining power in negotiations for pleas of guilty."