Final Death Penalty Post

I believe that the death penalty being abolished in Illinois is extremely just and right. I think that if a group of students at Northwestern University can find 17 men innocent/had a faulty trial, there is something wrong with the system that determines the life or death of a man. Some men were given unfair trials, such as black men who were put up against an all white jury.  Also, some men were given attorneys who had shortly later been banned from practicing law. Gov. Ryan gave a story that i thought was very important, that was about Claude Lee. Ryan explained how this man was clearly innocent of his crime of killing a police officer, but he was seriously ill. Lee has a history of mental illness treatment for many years and I don't think that this can be pushed aside. Gov. Ryan said something that made me believe that this was a hard decision for him and he had to toss and turn over every idea:
"But I had to ask myself - could I send another man's son to death under the deeply flawed system of capital punishment we have in Illinois? A troubled young man, with a history of mental illness? Could I rely on the system of justice we have in Illinois not to make another horrible mistake? Could I rely on a fair sentencing?"
From the facts on past cases that included the death penalty, I don't think we can necessarily rely on the justice system. I think a man/woman who has a serious illness shouldn't be put to death, they deserve help that could be provided by the courts.
We have learned through this unit that there can be many different kinds of miss trials. There can be racism, shortened appeals/trails, faulty attorneys given to the defendant, evidence from inmate to get less time, and faulty evidence. Many of these cases were found in the trials that were looked over by Northwestern and they were found in the court cases looked over in our class room. I don't think Gov. Ryan stopped the death penalty because he didn't like it, he did it because the system was so wrong that it had to be stopped and then fixed.
"But for decades, the debate over capital punishment rarely strayed from whether it was right or wrong, a moral argument that was waged mostly by a narrow group of attorneys and abolition supporters that could be easily dismissed. Public opinion polls showed little movement. Death sentences and executions hit record levels. Inmates like the serial killer John Wayne Gacy, whose guilt was never in question, were put to death and caused little controversy. But when a miscarriage of justice was discovered and a death row inmate was set free, the police and prosecutors contended that it was an isolated incident, an anomaly. They got little argument."
The 4th Amendment gives Americans the right to have a FAIR trial in front of a jury. It was found that many men weren't given a fair trial and whether they were guilty or not, it did not matter because we should all have the same treatments, rights, and opportunities. Gov. Ryan didn't end capitol punishment because he was against it, but because it was unjust in the process that the men had to go through to end up on death row. Because of the mistrials, many innocent men were on death row for 10+ years and many opportunities in America were gone because they were waiting to die. Many people wonder if the death penalty is 'cruel and unusual' but i think the bigger question is if its just. It was found that nearly half of 300 men who were on death row shouldn't have been there... That is unjust.