Illinois Governor Rod Blajnovich will sign legislation calling for the mandatory taping of police interrogations. However, he doubts that reforms alone can fix Illinois's broken death penalty system. We welcome his remarks:

Even though he plans to sign the legislation, and while he reviews a more comprehensive death-penalty overhaul, Blagojevich said he was "not so sure" that a series of reforms "will make me feel comfortable that the death penalty can be implemented in Illinois without being prone to a mistake."

"As someone who supports the death penalty and as someone who would like to see the death penalty back in place in the right kind of cases, putting that aside, under no circumstances could I ever think about [an execution] unless I felt that we had reformed the system in such a way where we're not prone to making the kind of mistakes that were made in the past," Blagojevich said. "And I just don't sense we're anywhere near being at a point where that would be the case."

Blagojevich has previously said he would maintain the moratorium on capital punishment imposed by his predecessor, George Ryan, in 2000. In one of his final acts as governor in January, Ryan commuted the death sentences of 164 people on Death Row, meaning Blagojevich would be unlikely to face a decision on executions anytime soon.

Blagojevich is also concerned about racial profiling. also will sign a law

[he] also said he will sign a measure mandating law-enforcement training on racial profiling and requiring local police to record data in traffic stops so that it can be collected and analyzed to determine whether people are being pulled over based solely on their race....His signature would add Illinois to a list of more than 30 states that have adopted laws or have been ordered by the courts through consent decrees to require special training for police and monitoring of traffic stops.

Also to his credit, Blagojevich intends to sign into law a bill that "would require expunging of arrest records of people later found to be innocent."

The measure also creates a program to provide information to individuals who may be eligible to have their records cleared or sealed. It also provides for the automatic sealing of arrest and misdemeanor conviction records of people who have not had a subsequent conviction within three years.

We hope some other Governors take note and follow Blagojevich's lead.