Today, Governor Quinn signed Senate Bill 3539, abolishing the death penalty in Illinois and finally righting a long-standing wrong in our criminal justice system. I wish to commend the Governor, as well as the bill’s chief sponsors, Sen. Kwame Raoul (D-Chicago) and Rep. Karen Yarbrough (D-Maywood), and the many advocates who championed this cause over time.

As I stated on the floor of the Illinois Senate on January 11 when we passed this bill, I reversed my 17-year position in favor of the death penalty in limited cases to support this historic legislation. I struggled with this weighty moral issue, both as an individual and as a legislator, and sought guidance from law enforcement and prosecution experts; I met with crime victims and the exonerated; I read, I researched, and I prayed.

Through my research and careful consideration – particularly the compelling analysis recently released by Prof. Leigh Bienen of the Northwestern University School of Law – I came to the realization that our system of capital punishment in Illinois clearly does not work. It does not serve its purpose as a deterrent, and its implementation has had a significant margin of error – as exemplified by the unfortunately high number of innocent people who have been convicted of capital crimes. In short, our system of capital punishment in Illinois is irretrievably broken.

Today’s bill signing ends an era of injustice in our state’s history. I am proud to have cast one of the deciding votes on this monumental legislation. My thoughts and prayers today are with the all the individuals and families whose lives have been indelibly impacted by tragedy.