February 9, 2000
Illinois governor declares
moratorium on death penalty
___By Sarah Griffith
___Baptist Center for Ethics
___SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (ABP)--Gov. George Ryan declared a moratorium on the death penalty Jan. 31, making Illinois the first state to take such action.
___The Republican governor ordered a temporary halt to executions in light of reports by the Chicago Tribune about problems in the state's capital-punishment system.
___The Chicago newspaper said that of 260 death-penalty cases that were appealed, half were reversed, with orders for either a new trial or resentencing. Improper rulings, misconduct by prosecutors and other miscarriages resulted in 13 wrongful convictions--one more than the number of people who have been executed since Illinois resumed the death penalty in 1977.
___"I cannot support a system, which in its administration has proven so fraught with error and has come so close to the ultimate nightmare--the state's taking of innocent life," Ryan said.
___His decision has revived the debate over capital punishment nationwide.
___An editorial in the New York Times urged other pro-death penalty governors, including George W. Bush of Texas, to "acknowledge the flaws and stop what Justice Harry Blackmun once called 'the machinery of death.'"
___Illinois is not the only state with a faulty system, read an editorial in the Detroit Free Press. The editorial referred to a "mountain of evidence" suggesting many innocent people live on death row. "There is no justice in putting innocents to death," the editorial argued.
___Along with the rest of society, Christians are divided on the death penalty. Those on the left oppose it, while conservatives believe it should be used in some cases. Several Southern Baptist Convention leaders have indicated they support capital punishment.
___A longtime Baptist professor of Christian ethics, however, said he views capital punishment as vengeful and ineffective.
___"DNA is finding that in 10 percent of cases, the wrong person was given the death penalty," said Glen Stassen, professor of Christian ethics at Fuller Theological Seminary and president of the Baptist Professors of Religion in North America.
___"When you find out you are wrong, you can't correct it," Stassen said. "That penalty is permanent."
___Stassen noted that Jesus' own death by capital punishment is portrayed as an unjust and vengeful act in the Bible.
___"There's a fundamental biblical commitment to the sacredness of life," he said. "Jesus himself was crucified. Stephen was killed in Acts. Every time the death penalty is mentioned in the New Testament, it's wrong. There is no crucifixion or killing that was just."
___The Christian Life Commission of the Baptist General Convention of Texas also is evaluating alternatives to capital punishment.
___With the support of "a number of strong Texas pastors," the moral-concerns agency has begun to form a committee to study alternatives to capital punishment--particularly life without parole, said Director Phil Strickland.
___"It is a terrible tragedy when the state kills innocent people, particularly if there are alternatives that still protect society," he said.
___Strickland questioned whether the death penalty serves as a deterrent to violent crimes like murder. "You're not going to eliminate crimes of passion, which most of these are," he asserted.
___Another thing about capital punishment that ought to be considered, Strickland said, "is whether or not we genuinely believe in the possibility of (Christian) conversion."
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