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.
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“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
[PHOTO SOURCE: http://www.azquotes.com/quote/1588566]
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INTERNET SOURCE: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/06/illinois-death-penalty-bill_n_6820030.html
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."
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“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
[PHOTO SOURCE: http://www.azquotes.com/quote/1588563]
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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.
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“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
[PHOTO SOURCE: http://www.azquotes.com/quote/1588565]
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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