Once abolished, the death penalty is seldom reintroduced. Since 1985, over 40 countries have abolished the death penalty in law or, having previously abolished it for ordinary crimes, have gone on to abolish it for all crimes. During the same period only four abolitionist countries reintroduced the death penalty.
On January 11th, 2003, Illinois governor George Ryan commuted the sentence of all 167 death-row inmates. This move by the departing governor was looked upon as one of the most significant acts to ever question capital punishment. This decision was made just two days before Ryan's term as governor of Illinois was up, sparking much controversy. Although much of the media has been split upon taking sides with Ryan's decision, opponents of capital punishment have rejoiced in the wake of this act. The outcome of this brings hope for the opponents of capital punishment in that if other states and countries take note of what is happening, they too will then take a long and hard look at their own justice systems. .
Ever since his term begun in 2000, Ryan has always favored abolishing capital punishment. He was quoted as saying "the decision was the natural ending to the journey I had begun." In late 2000, Ryan had put a stop to 13 executions that were set to take place. He frowned upon many flaws in the system at that time and allowed them to be freed upon new evidence. .
Announcing the moratorium to those executions at that time, Ryan was quoted: ''I cannot support a system which, in its administration, has proven so fraught with error and has come so close to the ultimate nightmare, the state's taking of innocent life. Until I can be sure that everyone sentenced to death in Illinois is truly guilty, until I can be sure with moral certainty that no innocent man or woman is facing a lethal injection, no one will meet that fate.''.
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On July 1st, 2002, U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff added more fuel to the debate over capital punishment.