Via Tapped, we find Newsweek's Jonathan Alter, who we agree is not particularly liberal on criminal justice issues, explaining why former Illinois Governor George Ryan granted blanket clemency to the state's death row inmates, in Machinery of Mercy. Alter jumped on the bandwagon of the innocence movement several years ago, providing it with additional welcome exposure.

Here's the point he makes we'd like to echo:

Is Illinois’ criminal justice system somehow worse than that of Texas or Virginia or the three dozen other states that impose capital punishment? Does Illinois rely more than other jurisdictions on questionable testimony, false confessions, withheld DNA testing and other abuses? No. Illinois simply has more aggressive journalists (at The Chicago Tribune) and activists (at Northwestern’s Center on Wrongful Convictions) than elsewhere. I’ve been watching this story unfold for a decade. Believe me, if reporters and law schools in other states got cracking, they would find their own capital punishment systems just as rotten.

This is why we need Innocence Projects at law schools in every state--along with journalism students. It's happening, and when the details emerge from other states, the system should grind to a halt. We need a moratorium on the death penalty--at least until it can be applied fairly, accurately and in a non-discriminatory manner. Illinois Senator Richard Durbin, a supporter of the death death penalty, has come out in favor of a moratorium because of problems with its fairness:

"I think Governor Ryan has set the stage for an honest debate about creating safeguards in the legal process," he said last week. "Because of inequity and injustices involved in the court system, we need to take a serious national look at death penalty reform, and until we can get that debate under way I support a moratorium."