MACARTHUR JUSTICE CENTER LEADS STATEWIDE CLEMENCY PETITION
Update (January 23, 2004)
Illinois Supreme Court Upholds Clemency for All Death Row Inmates
The Illinois Supreme Court unanimously turned away a challenge to the Death Row commutations granted by former Gov. George Ryan, saying that the state constitution "does not in any way restrict the governor's power to act." Among the commutations upheld in the Supreme Court's decision were those for 23 on whose behalf the MacArthur Justice Center had petitioned.
Update (2002)
MJC Coordinates Statewide Clemency Petition Effort on Behalf of Illinois Death Row Inmates
The MacArthur Justice Center has taken a leading role in organizing attorneys to file clemency petitions on behalf of every inmate on Illinois death row. These petitions request Governor Ryan to grant clemency to current death row inmates whose sentences were imposed without the benefit of reforms that have been proposed by the Governor’s Commission on Capital Punishment.
Governor Ryan gained international acclaim for his decision to impose a moratorium on executions in the wake of the exonerations of 13 wrongfully convicted men who had been sentenced to death and were later proved innocent. The Commission on Capital Punishment has recommended 85 reforms to the death penalty system, but none have as yet been enacted. The petitions argue that inmates now on death row should not be executed because their sentences were imposed by the same flawed system that allowed the 13 innocent men to be sentenced to death.
In connection with this clemency effort, the MacArthur Justice Center filed a clemency petition on behalf of 23 death row inmates who had refused to consent to the filing of clemency petitions on their own behalf. The MacArthur petition argues that the integrity and fairness of the system demands clemency for individuals sentenced to death under a broken capital punishment system – even if the inmates themselves don’t want the clemency.
Download MacArthur petition (pdf)
