Know Your Stuff: July Brings New State Laws
Several new laws take effect this month. Here's a rundown of what you need to know.
SPRINGFIELD — Illinois newest laws cover the spectrum from death to taxes to antifreeze. Illinois became the 16th state to abolish the death penalty, beginning Friday. Jeremy Schroeder, executive director of the Illinois Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, a grassroots organization that pushed for the abolition of the state's death penalty since 1976, said Gov. Pat Quinn, who signed the bill into law in March, ordered life sentences for anyone on death row, including defendants in a handful of death penalty cases statewide. "It's certainly kind of a sad waste of taxpayer money, knowing that those people aren't going to be placed on death row," Schroeder said. However, the law’s effective date likely will go unnoticed, he added. "…
Logansdad
12:08 pm on Wednesday, July 13, 2011
To me getting the death penalty is the easy way out. Which is worse spending your life in a small cell 23 hrs out of the day or being strapped to a table where you are put to sleep first and then your heart is stopped? Texas has executed more people than any other state and it doesnt act as a deterrent. more ›