Final report from Illinois Capital Punishment Reform Study Committee

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." The final report, and the annual reports that preceded it, are detailed and well-documented, and include much information from the several public hearings held around the state over the six years of the study by the CPRSC. The Committee found that reforms enacted by the General Assembly and the IL Supreme Court have been effective in addressing some areas of concern, for example, electronic recording of custodial interrogations in homicide investigations, and formation of the Capital Litigation Trial Bar. A majority of the committee identified other areas that they believe still require reform, including blind administration and sequential presentation for eyewitness identifications, a statewide review board to oversee State's Attorneys' selection of cases for the death penalty, jury instructions, funding of state forensic laboratories, and victim's rights. Members of the CPRSC include: Mr. Sullivan, Chair. Richard D. Schwind, Co-Chair, Illinois Attorney General's office. Leigh Bienen, Northwestern Law SchooL. Jennifer Bishop-Jenkins, murder victims' family member. James R. Coldren, Jr., Governor's State University. State Senator Kirk W. Dillard. Walter Hehner, Cook County States' Attorney's office. Jeffrey M. Howard, Cook County Public Defender's office. Boyd J. Ingemunson, Yorkville Attorney. Edwin R. Parkinson, Office of the Illinois Appellate Prosecutor. Charles M. Schiedel, Office of the State Appellate Defender. Geoffrey R. Stone, University of Chicago. Randolph N. Stone, Mandel Legal Clinic, University of Chicago. Former State Representative Arthur L. Turner. Michael J. Waller, Lake County State's Attorney. Eric C. Weis, Kendall County State's Attorney. Former members: James B. Durkin, Theodore A. Gottfried, T. Clinton Hull, Thomas P. Needham, Gerald E. Nora, Jeffery J. Tomczak. The final report of the CPRSC can be viewed here.