Monday, March 9, 2015

BRING IT BACK! ILLINOIS!


                 We, the comrades of Unit 1012: The V.F.F.D.P, will never forget the date when Illinois abolished the death penalty on March 9, 2011. There was some consolation when Pat Quinn was voted out as governor and he left office on January 12, 2015. We present an article from Republican, Joe Cabello who wants to reinstate capital punishment in the State and we wish him all the best.

 
“I would say that there are a lot of people who currently disagree with the death penalty, I just hope that it's never one of their family members that is killed, because then they will probably change their mind on capital punishment.” - John Cabello

                 

Illinois Lawmaker Wants To Restore Death Penalty, 4 Years After It Was Abolished
Posted: 03/06/2015 8:09 pm EST Updated: 03/06/2015 8:59 pm EST

Four years after Illinois abolished the death penalty, a Republican state lawmaker wants to bring it back for killers he calls "the worst of the worst."

State Rep. John Cabello (R-Machesney Park) last week introduced a bill to restore capital punishment, but in a different form than when it was abolished in 2011.

“Obviously, we don’t want the same bill -- the same language -- that we had before," Cabello told The Huffington Post Friday. "We have to have something in place for the worst of the worst. The bill is to make sure the discussion is there."

In 2003, troubled by questions of fairness, then-Gov. George Ryan (R) cleared the state's death row in the waning hours of his administration. Gov. Pat Quinn (D) ultimately signed legislation that abolished the death penalty outright. Quinn called it the hardest decision he ever had to make as governor. Because the legislation was not retroactive, Quinn commuted the sentences of the 15 men on death row. Illinois is now one of 18 U.S. states that have abolished the death penalty.

Cabello said he wants his bill to facilitate a discussion of reforming the justice system in the House Judiciary-Criminal Committee, for which he serves as spokesman. Even if his bipartisan bill makes it to the House floor, he said he wouldn't likely call for a vote.

"I want to make sure we’re going to discuss every type of penalty, every type of issue, that could possibly come up within this commission to see what and how we want our criminal justice system to look like," Cabello said.

The bill would bolster court-appointed defense teams, funding defense experts and investigators, allowing law students to help provide research and legal aid, and providing training to county public defenders.

Though Cabello said he personally supports the death penalty, he said it should only be brought back "if we came up with perfect reforms for the criminal justice system" and for "certain ironclad cases." The punishment would apply to the "worst of the worst," which he defined as including those convicted of murdering a first responder or a child under 12, or committing mass murder.

Cabello is on leave from his job as a detective at the Rockford Police Department. As a lawmaker, he said he'd like to reduce state's prison population by 25 percent within the next 10 years. He also has introduced legislation that would allow someone convicted of a non-forcible felony to have that record sealed upon successful completion of prison educational or vocational training.

"We do an excellent job of putting people in prison," Cabello said. "We do a lousy job of getting them back into society."

Cabello said his proposed legislation shouldn't define him as soft on crime. "I’ve unfortunately had the opportunity to investigate murders, child sex crimes, every kind if crime you can’t possibly imagine and don’t want to imagine," he said. "It's about getting smart on crime, not soft." 

 
“I've seen lots of murders, no murder is ever nice, and I just don't think the victim's family has an opportunity to get all the justice they might want. We seem to always forget about victim's families and we focus in on the criminal and we need to get away from that and focus on the people that are actually suffering because of the incident. They can lobby their elected State's Attorney to have the death penalty on the table.” - John Cabello



My View: Why I want to restore the death penalty in Illinois
By John Cabello
Posted Jul. 6, 2015 at 3:00 PM

Two United States Supreme Court justices recently issued an opinion that challenges the constitutionality of the death penalty and asserts their opinion that it should be abolished. One has been quoted as saying, “At the very least, the Court should call for full briefing on the basic question” of the death penalty.

I am not writing to contest a U.S. Supreme Court Justice’s opinion, but rather explain why I have filed legislation to reinstate the death penalty here in Illinois.

We need a mechanism in place to effectively deal with criminals who decide to commit heinous acts that result in violent deaths. That may sound like a familiar argument, but it is applied completely different within the language of the bill I filed. My legislation (HB 4059) eliminates the abolition of the death penalty passed in 2011, and instead creates the Capital Crimes Litigation Act of 2015.

The death penalty provision in my legislation is targeted at the worst of the worst. I am speaking of ironclad cases that are free of the flaws that have, in some past cases, led to wrongful convictions or discriminatory treatment. Under my legislation, the death penalty would be a sentencing option for criminals convicted of first degree murder of a child younger than age 12, the murder of multiple victims, murder on school grounds, murder as a result of terrorism or the murder of a first responder.

Restoring the death penalty as a sentencing option for the most heinous murder convictions is not only about consequences for the murderer, it’s also about justice and closure for victims’ loved ones. Families affected by these exceptionally brutal crimes deserve to work with prosecutors to seek the death penalty for their peace of mind and for the future safety of their community.

“Times have changed,” stated one of the two Supreme Court justices in opposition to the death penalty. Unfortunately, he is correct. Heinous murders have become an everyday way of life; and in the worst cases, the death penalty is an appropriate way to deal with those who purposely, violently take innocent life.

Having recently been filed, my legislation is still in the early stages of the legislative process. The bill has both Republican and Democratic sponsors. It’s currently sitting in the House Rules Committee, and I know that’s where it may remain. Still, I believe this is an issue that deserves to be discussed, and I will continue to work with legislators on both sides of the aisle to move the discussion forward.

John Cabello, R-Machesney Park, is a state representative.

“I happen to be catholic, and I heard that the pope was asking that we abolish the death penalty and I would have to respectfully disagree with him. As many murders as I've had to deal with in my career, watching and dealing with the victim's families throughout the beginning of the incident all the way until today. There are a lot of folks that feel that they didn't have the justice that was due to them.” - John Cabello

John M. Cabello has served as a Republican member of the Illinois House of Representatives since his appointment in August 2012. He represents the 68th district, which includes all or parts of, Rockford, Machesney Park, Loves Park and Cherry Valley. Prior to his appointment, he was a member of the Winnebago County Board and the Harlem Township Board.
During the 2016 U.S. presidential election, Cabello was a co-chair of the Illinois Trump Victory Committee, supporting Republican candidate Donald Trump.


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