May 6, 2002 3 min read

Two years ago the governor of Illinois caused quite a stir when he halted executions in his state until officials could find a way to make it error-free. A few weeks ago the 14-member commission assembled by Gov. George Ryan weighed in with its sobering findings. The commission recommended Illinois take 85 steps to fix capital punishment or abolish it outright.

When Ryan made his bold move two years ago to point out there was a likelihood that poor, mostly minority, suspects were beaten or railroaded into confessions, that they had slipshod incompetent trial attorneys and even worse, unprepared counsel on appeal, most states paused at least long enough to talk about the death penalty.

Pennsylvania went only so far as to review whether convicted murderers on death row had adequate legal counsel and then make motions toward creating a fund to pay for defense attorneys with experience in capital cases.

But that is as far as the state has gone in weighing the fairness of the death penalty.

Don’t look for the Illinois commission to stir up the debate here.

This is a gubernatorial election year. While law-and-order Republican candidate Mike Fisher and Democratic candidates Philadelphia-lawyer Ed Rendell and son-of-a-governor Bob Casey make the rounds talking about the “issues,” the death penalty is off the agenda. In past gubernatorial races, the death penalty surfaced, but not in terms of abolishment or even review, rather on which candidate would vow to sign the most death warrants. There are those who believe Tom Ridge’s campaign gained momentum when he made it appear his opponent was wimpy on capital punishment.

The lack of conversation this time might indicate that Pennsylvanians aren’t as anxious to pump lethal doses of chemicals into the worst criminals without knowing that only the truly evil meet this fate.

In recent years DNA tests have proven conclusively that some death-row inmates weren’t murderers. Most recently in Arizona, DNA cleared Ray Krone who spent a decade in prison. He was the 100th person since 1973 to be released from death row, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, which tracks capital cases.

It’s cases such as Krone’s that Illinois wants to avoid by creating a fair, just and accurate system.

Even death penalty proponents in Pennsylvania ought to want this, too. Since the next governor controls the death warrants and sets the execution dates, the candidates should enlighten voters on their view of the system.