Death Penalty Quotes

“From this day forward, I no longer shall tinker with the machinery of death.”

“The application of the death penalty... has failed to deliver the fair, consistent, and reliable sentences of death required by the Constitution.”

“I consider the death penalty a cruel and immoral institution that undermines the moral and legal foundations of a society.”

“The fatal constitutional infirmity in the punishment of death is that it treats 'members of the human race as nonhumans, as objects to be toyed with and discarded.'”

“The death penalty is a barbaric and inhuman practice that has no place in a civilized society.”

“A man on Death Row is a man who has been judged not only by his peers but by his God.”

“My objection to the death penalty is based on the idea that this is a democracy, and in a democracy, the government is me, and I don't want to kill anybody.”

“The death penalty is a failed public policy. It has been proven to be ineffective as a deterrent to crime, and it is a cruel and unusual punishment.”

“I can't support a system which, in its administration, has proven so fraught with error that it has come close to the ultimate nightmare, the state's taking of innocent life.”

“Because the Illinois death penalty system is arbitrary and capricious - and therefore immoral - I no longer shall tinker with the machinery of death.”

“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.”

“We have now freed more people than we have executed, and that's a shameful record.”

“The facts I have seen in reviewing each and every one of these cases raised questions not only about the innocence of people on death row, but about the fairness of the death penalty system as a whole.”

“I will not approve any more executions.”

“The question is not whether the death penalty is a deterrent, but whether it is a just and proportionate punishment.”