After years of struggle against the racist, anti-worker death
penalty, Illinois officially abolished capital punishment on March 9.
Sixteen states have now banned the death penalty, although it is yet
to be abolished at the federal level.
Illinois instituted a moratorium on the death penalty in 1999, and
the state legislature passed a bill eliminating it this January,
which was finally signed into law by Gov. Patrick Quinn. There
have been several high-profile wrongfully convicted death row inmates
over the years in Illinois, including Randy Steidl and Anthony
Porter, who came within two days of execution.
The death penalty is a tool employed by the capitalist state to
terrorize the working class, especially people of color.
Approximately two-thirds of death row inmates are Black and political
prisoners, such as Mumia Abu-Jamal. The abolition of capital
punishment in Illinois and elsewhere is not the result of the good
conscience of politicians, but of years of persistent struggle.
