Former Illinois Governor George H. Ryan: An Address on the Death Penalty

George H. Ryan, former governor of Illinois, will offer a personal account of how he came to the monumental decision to commute the sentences of all 167 inmates on the state's death row in January 2003, shortly before he left office. His action was the culmination of a dramatic transformation in his views on the death penalty. Throughout his more than 30 years in public office, Governor Ryan had supported capital punishment. Yet, in January 2000, Ryan instituted the nation's first moratorium on state executions, pending a thorough review of the capital judicial process. "Until I can be sure with moral certainty that no innocent man or woman is facing a lethal injection," he announced, "no one will meet that fate." Two months later, Ryan formed the Governor's Commission on Capital Punishment to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the state's policy and process of administering the death penalty. That commission recommended more than 80 changes to the state's capital punishment system--proposed reforms that will likely prompt many states across the country to reexamine how capital punishment is being carried out.