Ryan recognizes error of capital punishment's ways

Former Illinois Gov. George Ryan left office Monday, but one of his last acts as governor has proven one of his most controversial; on Friday, he commuted the death sentences of 167 inmates. This decision came after a series of well-publicized reversals in which new evidence led to the exoneration of 13 death row inmates. These reversals have spawned a renewed criticism of the death penalty, not seen since the U.S. Supreme Court issued a moratorium on the practice in 1972. Ryan made the correct decision; the criminal justice system's inability to guarantee guilt in a death sentence must be rectified before a case can be made for state-sponsored execution.

Ryan's decision is not the result of an ideological qualm with execution, but a realization of the criminal justice system's inability to guarantee a fair trial and a correct conviction. Many of those 13 inmates had been through multiple trials and appeals, yet despite this extra scrutiny, all were later proven to be innocent. One was a mere 48 hours from being executed an innocent man. This state of affairs is unacceptable and indicative of a well-documented problem, hardly contained to the Illinois system.

The death penalty is often a sentence that is carried out in an arbitrary or racially-tinted manner. In Furman v. Georgia, the Supreme Court acknowledged a number of flaws with the death penalty, including that it was being disproportionately administered to minorities and to the poor. Even today, an accused murderer is 4.3 times more likely to receive a death sentence if the victim is white and 90 percent of all death row inmates are unable to afford their own legal counsel at the time of their trial. However, these and other persistent problems in its utilization are of lesser importance when compared to the 13 wrongfully convicted inmates, who without the re-examination of their cases would certainly have been executed innocent men.

Before we seriously consider executing criminals, the unjust and incorrect manner in which death is prescribed should be examined and thoroughly overhauled. Whether one agrees with the death penalty, Ryan's logic is difficult to dispute, especially in a state that has more erroneous convictions to its name than it has executions. Nationally, 102 innocent people have been released from death row since the reinstitution of the death penalty in 1976. Advances in technology and the re-examining of many closed cases has led to this striking statistic, which is painfully descriptive of the problems inherent to our legal system.

Can our legal system ever be perfect enough to guarantee guilt? Not likely. And as long as the criminal justice system allows death as a possible punishment, the potential for error - even in one case among many - is too great. Ryan's act of mass mercy is proof that even the most staunch supporters of capital punishment in theory are beginning to recognize the folly of its practice. Other leaders should follow suit.