April 2002 Call to Action News

Conference pushes death penalty ban

Sr. Helen Prejean shared the dais with Illinois Gov. George Ryan, Wisconsin Sen. Russell Feingold, and Cardinal Francis George, at a March 9-10 conference at De Paul University, Chicago, opposing the death penalty. CTA was a co-sponsor of the event, where a crowd of 700 heard speakers note a promising shift in U.S. public opinion away from capital punishment. Feingold cites recent polls showing 76 percent of Americans expressing concern that innocent persons are being put to death and 70 percent supporting a moratorium or suspension of executions.

Ryan received an award for ordering in January 2000 the current moratorium on executions in Illinois. His action, said Feingold, was the catalyst for the currrent nationwide reexamination of capital punishment. But Prejean said that the U.S. is among a tiny minority of world nations still imposing the death penalty.