With the state of California wracked by long-standing budget issues, there is wide acceptance that the death penalty system needs reform.
Recent studies of the federal death penalty system reveal that the average cost of defending a capital case are at least eight times those for defense of a non-death penalty case.
"Because the Illinois death penalty system is arbitrary and capricious - and therefore immoral - I no longer shall tinker with the machinery of death, " he said announcing his decision on Saturday.
The charge of inciting to overthrow the ruling system carries the death penalty under article 130 of Qatar's penal code.
BBC: Qatar urged to free poet Mohammed Ibn al-Dheeb al-Ajami
Mr Ryan's successor is keeping the moratorium in place until the state's death-penalty system can be overhauled.
After Illinois imposed its moratorium, supporters of the death penalty claimed then that the system in that state was uniquely awful.
The death penalty, and the criminal justice and penal system in this country are weighted heavily against the poor and against minorities.
Clearly, a system of justice culminating in the death penalty has had little deterrent effect.
South Africa doesn't use the jury system and doesn't have the death penalty.
Allawi noted that the death penalty has been restored in Iraq, but said it was up to the Iraqi judicial system to decide Saddam's fate.
Edwards, a death penalty supporter, conceded that "serious steps" need to be take to improve the system so that innocent people aren't condemned to death.
Because most Americans still support the death penalty in principle, abolitionists have had little choice but to welcome reform, even if it means improving a system they oppose.
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