As of January 31, 2003, Governor George Ryan modified the sentences of 167 death row inmates in Illinois. He stated that he felt the death penalty process was “arbitrary and capricious, and therefore, immoral.” Considering the role of crime and punishment in both contemporary as well as historical America I feel that his decision was justified.
As an Illinoisan, I strongly feel that Governor George Ryan was fully aware of the corruption level in the Chicago Police Department and other departments in high crime areas in the last thirty years. I have no doubt that some of the 111 blacks, 54 whites and a few others were wrongfully accused, coerced to falsely testify, and sentenced to death by lethal injection. Therefore, I feel that Governor Ryan’s move to modify the death sentences was noble and worth some praise. I know that Ryan received lots of political “heat” for this action, but he pulled through and perhaps showed us, Americans, that our justice system isn’t faultless.
In addition, history shows that the American justice system was never pristine and that innocent or wrongfully accused persons paid the ultimate price for crimes they have not committed. Before the United States was united there was the formation of the 13 colonies which preceded the 50 states. During this formation the colonies expanded rapidly and had to have an organized justice system with set punishments representative of the crimes committed. In short, some offenders weren’t that lucky at the game of crime.
In Virginia, around year 1611, Sir Thomas Dale created “Dale’s Laws” of which nearly two dozen offenses constituted the capital punishment. Some of those offenses were banal when compared with the current times and they included unlicensed trading, stealing boats and destruction of crops (Roth, 2005, p. 54).
Death was imminent to some sexual deviants as well. In Massachusetts and the New England Colonies a case involving a one eyed servant with a tarnished past put an innocent man to death based on an animal being born with one eye. It was believed that this man fathered the one eyed pig, hence he was hanged. The reason for such atrocity was the law which the magistrates were following in a “curved” manner. Two witnesses needed to be present, and in this particular case, the one witness was the deformed pig, while a forced confession from the servant was the second witness (Roth, 2005, p. 59).
Now, we can see notable differences in the way capital punishment functioned then and how it functions at present (Goldstein, 2007). Back then, people were hanged, burned alive, and drowned. Now, a less painful way of administering the death penalty is in effect (Roth, 2005). Lethal injection seems to be more humane and makes the last moments of a person’s life virtually painless.
Governor George Ryan truly enlightened the American public to how unjust the justice system was. Maybe it was not a blatant pointing of a finger towards the “injustice” system; however questioning the system might have saved someone wrongfully accused from an unjustified death sentence.
References
Goldstein, D. (2007). Introduction to the History of the Criminal Justice System. Retrieved May 27, 2007, from Boston University, Vista Online Learning Web site: http://vista.bu.edu/webct/
Roth, M. (2005). Crime and Punishment: A History of the Criminal Justice System. Belmont: Thomson-Wadsworth
You might also like:
- Is The American Justice System Failing?
- The Juvenile Justice System and The Adult Justice System
- The Definition of Social Harm is Hard to Differentiate
- Has Policing Improved Since the Time Depicted in LA Confidential?
- What Changes Would You Make to the American Judicial System?
- Broken Windows, Crime Prevention, and Community Policing
- Crime and Punishment: Criminal Justice Course
Recommend Criminal Justice Degree, College, and Career Blog to Your Friends