Because the Illinois death penalty system is arbitrary and capricious - and therefore immoral - I no longer shall tinker with the machinery of death.
Interpretation
The quote criticizes the unfairness and immorality of the death penalty system, leading the speaker to abandon involvement with it.
George Ryan's quote highlights the inherent flaws of the Illinois death penalty system, which he describes as arbitrary and capricious. By labeling the system as immoral, he emphasizes his decision to withdraw from any role that contributes to the executions, advocating for a reevaluation of capital punishment based on fairness and ethical considerations.
In practice
During a debate on capital punishment at a law school, this quote can highlight the ethical implications of the death penalty.
In the US the overwhelming majority of those executed are psychotic, alcoholic, drug addicted or mentally unstable. They frequently are raised in an impoverished and abusive environment. Seldom are people with money or prestige convicted of capital offenses, even more seldom are they executed.
Our capital system 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? What effect was poverty having?
Justice remains the tool of a few powerful interests; legal interpretations will continue to be made to suit the convenience of the oppressor powers.
The struggle for justice doesn't end with me. This struggle is for all the Troy Davises who came before me and all the ones who will come after me.
I appreciate our government's determination to investigate the circumstances surrounding the death of the Bytyqi brothers, which Serbia's Interior Minister has rightly called 'an exceptionally serious crime,' and hope the Serbian government's pledge of full cooperation... is matched by a final accounting of their murder.
We are confident. We have ourselves. We know how to sacrifice. We know how to work. We know how to combat the forces that oppose us. But even more than that, we are true believers in the whole idea of justice. Justice is so much on our side, that that is going to see us through.
Overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity. It is an act of justice.
It is indeed an odd business that it has taken this Court nearly two centuries to discover a constitutional mandate to have counsel at a preliminary hearing.
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