AMAZING.
Here’s what the Chicago Sun-Times said about the historic move:
Acting on perhaps the most significant issue he will ever face, Gov. Quinn Wednesday signed landmark legislation to repeal the state’s “seriously broken” death penalty and then commuted the death sentences of the 15 men on Death Row.
“We cannot have a death penalty system in our state that kills innocent people,” Quinn said. “Unfortunately that system was in grave danger of doing exactly that in 20 different instances in Illinois. And so what’s really in question is the system itself. If the system can’t be guaranteed 100 percent error-free, then we shouldn’t have the system. It cannot stand. It just is not right in our democracy and system of justice.”
The governor’s highly anticipated decision, which he said he arrived at over the weekend, undoes a capital punishment system in place since 1977 and adds Illinois to 15 other states that have abolished the death penalty….
Psssssst! Oh, California State Legislature, honey! You wanna know how you can shave some big bucks off the state budget and improve the general condition of your immortal soul at the same time? Call up this Pat Quinn guy.
Go, Pat.
This is a very, very good news indeed.