hebig.org/blog

THE ONE
Yahoo News: "[Former Illinois governor George] Ryan is no bleeding-heart liberal. As a state representative in 1977, Ryan voted to bring back capital punishment. But when he became the state's chief executive, this conservative Republican decided to devote serious attention to the question of government-dealt death. [January 11 this year, with three days left in office,] he cleared Illinois' death row, sending all 167 inmates back to prison. Ryan: 'Each and every one of those 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.' Because DNA evidence had proven them innocent, Ryan also pardoned four men outright. This brought the total number of death row pardons issued during his term to 17."

THE OTHER
"As governor of Texas, George W. Bush allocated a mere 15 minutes to consider the fate of each inmate, on a work schedule which allotted up to two hours to playing video games. During his tenure Bush issued zero commutations."

RESOURCES
:: The speech at Northwestern University's Law School (link fixed, recommended reading)
:: Yahoo News: George Ryan, American Hero
:: Search Google News for George Ryan
:: Related item: Nomination and Selection of the Nobel Laureates