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92_HB1812gms
STATE OF ILLINOIS
OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR
SPRINGFIELD, 62706
GEORGE H. RYAN
GOVERNOR
August 17, 2001
To the Honorable Members of the
Illinois House of Representatives
92nd General Assembly
Pursuant to Article IV, Section 9(b) of the Illinois
Constitution of 1970, I hereby veto House Bill 1812 entitled
"AN ACT concerning organized gangs, which may be referred to
as the Severo Anti-gang Amendments of 2001."
House Bill 1812 would add a new eligibility factor to
this State's death penalty sentencing statue. This new
provision would make a defendant eligible for the death
penalty where the murder was committed in furtherance of the
activities of an organized gang. The bill also adds several
new criminal offenses to the Criminal Code, which again are
based upon activities in furtherance of an organized gang.
While I sympathize with the circumstances that prompted the
legislature to pass House Bill 1812, I must veto it for the
following reasons.
I have long been a supporter of tough measures to combat
gang activity in our state. Illinois has some of the toughest
laws on the books to severely punish gang-related crimes. In
fact, most gang-related murders would qualify for the
imposition of the death penalty under the existing
eligibility factors in our death penalty statue.
Unfortunately, this still has not deterred gang members from
killing. Moreover, the General Assembly recently passed the
15-20-Life laws which I proposed that also substantially
enhanced the sentences for criminals, including gang members,
who use firearms in committing violent offenses. Although
there have been legal challenges to this initiative, I am
confident that the Illinois Supreme Court will ultimately
uphold these laws as federal and state courts have done
elsewhere in upholding similar sentencing enhancement
provisions.
Of course, we must continue to provide better support for
law enforcement activities designed to break the stranglehold
of fear and cycle of violence that gang activity produces in
some of our communities. We all recognize, however, that even
the most effective work by police and prosecutors will not,
by itself, solve this problem. We must continue to work to
provide better educational and economic opportunities to our
most impoverished communities where gang activity and
violence have flourished. We must also ensure that we have
programs that will provide meaningful alternatives to gang
membership for every child to discourage their participation
in criminal activity.
I am proud to say that in partnership with the General
Assembly, we have done much to provide new economic and
educational opportunities in this State. We recognize that
eliminating crime and violence in our society requires us to
equally focus on prevention, enforcement and rehabilitation.
We have made significant progress in the last two years;
however, our work is far from over.
While House Bill 1812 represents a well-meaning effort to
address serious gang activity that results in a murder, I
believe its efforts are misdirected in light of existing
laws, constitutional concerns and our past history of
erroneously sentencing individuals to death.
First, it is essential to recognize that most serious
gang activity that results in murder is already covered by
our existing death penalty statue. For example, a gang member
committing murder while attempting or committing another
serious felony offense is eligible for the death penalty. The
list of qualifying felony offenses is lengthy and includes
crimes such as robbery, armed violence, burglary, home
invasion, kidnapping and forcible detention. Current law
specifically provides that the death penalty may be imposed
for a killing committed in the course of a streegang criminal
drug conspiracy. Murders committed while engaging in various
drug offenses are also punishable by death. There is no
question that gangs and gang violence exist because of, and
are fueled by, the illegal drug trade.
Further, under our current death penalty statute, the
killing of a police officer, correctional officer or inmate
already makes a gang member eligible for the death penalty. A
gang member who has previously been convicted of a murder is
also subject to a death sentence. Committing a murder
pursuant to an agreement in exchange for anything of value
(including drugs) will also result in eligibility for the
death penalty. Murdering someone who is going to testify or
who is assisting the State in any investigation or
prosecution will make the murderer eligible for the death
penalty. The death penalty statute also makes gang leaders
eligible for the death penalty for counseling, inducing,
procuring or causing the murder of another individual.
Finally, our existing death penalty statute also makes a
defendant eligible for the death penalty if the murder
results from a drive-by shooting. The addition of a blanket
eligibility factor making someone eligible for the death
penalty based merely on gang membership duplicates existing
statues, sweeps more broadly than is necessary and raises
constitutional concerns.
In an effort to define the conditions under which gang
activity would result in the death penalty or one of the new
crimes described by the bill, the legislature has
incorporated the definition of "organized gang" from the
Illinois Streetgang Terrorism Omnibus Prevention Act (740
ILCS 147). The intention of this Act is to create a civil
remedy available to public authorities to be pursued against
gang members. Its purpose is to include the broadest range of
activity possible. Using this broad civil definition of gang
activity as a basis for the imposition of the death penalty
or to define the scope of other criminal prohibitions is
unwise.
Although the General Assembly modified this legislation
to attempt to avoid infringing an individual's constitutional
right of association, the intended broad scope of prohibited
conduct "in furtherance" of an organized gang does not
completely eliminate this concern. Furthermore, significant
opposition to this legislation developed in the General
Assembly because of the clear disparate impact this bill will
have on minorities. Today, nearly 70% of those on death row
are racial or ethnic minorities. Such disproportionate
numbers have already raised due process and equal protection
challenges to our existing capital punishment system.
Moreover, as we continue to almost annually add eligibility
factors to our death penalty statute, we introduce more
arbitrariness and discretion and edge ever closer to our
previous capital punishment system that was effectively held
unconstitutional by the United States Supreme Court in 1972.
Over the last year, I have heard from prosecutors, judges and
defense attorneys who have suggested we already have far too
many eligibility factors under our existing capital
punishment statute.
We must also be mindful that the very nature of gang
activity has historically produced difficulties with the
reliable identification of a killer or killers and with
proving guilt based on unimpeachable evidence. Where the
state seeks to impose and carry out a death sentence, an
obviouslyirreversible decision, we must be morally certain
the individual is actually guilty of the charged murder.
Given the broad scope of this legislation, coupled with our
past experience, we would clearly be adding ambiguity to our
capital punishment system and raising additional
constitutional issues.
For these reasons, I hereby veto and return House Bill
1812.
Sincerely,
s/GEORGE H. RYAN
Governor