California has 648 condemned inmates
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Historic Death Row reprieve
ILLINOIS: Gov. Ryan spares 167, ignites national debate
- Reynolds Holding, Chronicle Staff WriterSunday, January 12, 2003
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In the largest purge of death row in U.S. history, Illinois Gov. George Ryan on Saturday spared the lives of 167 men and women condemned to execution - - the most damning blow to capital punishment since the Supreme Court struck down states' former death penalty laws 30 years ago.
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The bold move, involving cases in which more than 250 people were murdered, roiled anew the debate over capital punishment, galvanizing opponents of executions as well as death penalty supporters who predicted a backlash in favor of their views.
But Ryan, whose term ends Monday under a shadow of corruption charges, stressed in a letter to the families of murder victims that he could not "take the risk that we may execute an innocent person."
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"Our capital system," he said in a speech Saturday, "is haunted by the demon of error, error in determining guilt and error in determining who among the guilty deserves to die. What effect was race having?
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What effect was poverty having?
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"Because of all these reasons, today I am commuting the sentences of all Death Row inmates."
In California, whose 612 capital inmates constitute the nation's largest Death Row, the news prompted anger, optimism and caution among lawyers and public officials on both sides of the death penalty issue.
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All agreed there would be little immediate impact in the state, where Gov. Gray Davis has maintained staunch support for capital punishment. But California's chief death penalty prosecutor predicted difficult times ahead for opponents of executions.
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Source:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/01/12/MN189421.DTL
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Clemency is rarely dispensed to death row inmates these days
By DAVID KRAVETS, AP Legal Affairs Writer
Wednesday, December 7, 2005
(12-07) 00:08 PST SACRAMENTO, (AP) --
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Politics and history will not be on Stanley Tookie Williams' side Thursday when the founder of the murderous Crips gang asks Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to spare his life for killing four people during two robberies 26 years ago.
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Except for Illinois Gov. George Ryan's 2003 decision to clear out death row in his final hours in office, clemency is a gubernatorial option rarely exercised in today's tough-on-crime climate.
"There are three reasons why clemency is hardly given now," said Michael Radelet, a University of Colorado sociology professor. "One is politics. Two is politics and three is politics."
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The last California governor to grant clemency was Ronald Reagan in 1967, but the case was far different from Williams' situation and times have changed dramatically since then.
The life-and-death power bestowed on the kings of England and transferred to governors and presidents of the United States has become a little-used option in the three decades since states resumed executions.
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Before 1976, the year the U.S. Supreme Court allowed capital punishment to resume after a brief hiatus, clemency was routinely granted. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, 204 inmates nationwide were spared between 1960 and 1970.
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Excluding the 167 Illinois inmates whose death sentences were commuted in 2003, only 63 lives have been spared since 1976, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
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Most of those acts of mercy were the result of defendants' mental infirmities, doubts about their guilt, or efforts to build confidence in the death penalty system. Last week Virginia's governor commuted a death sentence because a pair of bloody scissors was improperly destroyed after the trial, depriving the defense of the opportunity to conduct new DNA tests.

Source:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2005/12/06/state/n180143S11.DTL
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1. Is the death penalty right for some murders? (Mass murderers, terrorists, murderers of children, etc.) Yes or No
2. Is Life in Prison without the possibility of parole an option? Yes or No
3. How do you feel about the Death Penalty?
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Not a typical December blog, but at least current. Love and Peace. Prayers and Hope for our Troops at War. Yes, I am Proud to be an American. God Bless. ;-) GC