USA: Historic Illinois decision...

USA: Historic Illinois decision must be a first step towards abolition of
the death penalty

London, 13 January 2003 -- The courageous decision of outgoing Illinois
Governor
George Ryan to pardon four of the state's death row inmates
and to commute the death sentences of all 167 others should
be a stepping stone to abolition of the death penalty in the United States,
Amnesty International said today.

"The USA is on the wrong side of history on this fundamental human
rights issue. Governor Ryan has shown that change is possible and that
principled human rights leadership is crucial," the organization added.

"Such leadership has been sadly lacking over the past quarter of a
century of judicial killing in the USA," Amnesty International said.
"Governor Ryan has shown that there is an alternative to the empty
'tough-on-crime' politics of the death penalty."

The Governor, who has gone from death penalty advocate to one of its
more outspoken critics, announced his commutation decision three years
after he imposed a moratorium on executions in Illinois because of its
"shameful record" of wrongful convictions in capital cases. However, his
blanket commutation decision made clear that the system was "haunted" not
only by error in determining guilt but also "error in determining who among
the guilty deserves to die".

"Illinois is not alone in sending the innocent to death row," Amnesty
International continued, noting that more than 100 people have been
released from the country's death rows after evidence of their innocence
emerged. "It is also not alone in overseeing a capital justice system
where arbitrariness is a defining characteristic. Other politicians should
take the lead from Governor Ryan, and begin to guide their jurisdictions
away from this outdated punishment."

Race, economic status and location of the crime all play a role in
who is sentenced to death in the USA. A study released last week on
capital sentencing in Maryland is just the latest to show a system plagued
by racial and geographic bias. Eighty per cent of the more than 800 people
executed in the USA since 1977 were convicted of crimes involving white
victims. Yet blacks and whites are the victims of murder in almost equal
numbers in the USA.

Advocates of this punishment argue that the system is winnowing out
the "worst of the worst". However, time and time again cases come through
the system which indicate the inevitability of human inconsistency and
error.

"The death penalty in the USA has often been promoted as a route to
emotional closure for the relatives of murder victims," Amnesty
International added. "We join Governor Ryan in hoping that the US
authorities can provide more than the hope of revenge to those who suffer
the appalling trauma of losing a loved one to murder."

"More than 100 countries have turned their backs on judicial
killing," Amnesty International said. "This inexorable progress towards
worldwide abolition reflects the growing realization that the death penalty
is a punishment that is too flawed to fix."



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Nina Tesenfitz
Pressesprecherin
amnesty international
Sektion der Bundesrepublik Deutschland e.V.
Spendenkonto: 80 90 100
Bank für Sozialwirtschaft Köln, BLZ 370 205 00