A new report by the Illinois Coalition Against the Death Penalty shows that 41% of people in Illinois now oppose the death penalty.

The report also says two-thirds of voters would be either more likely to support their legislator or have no objection if he or she voted to abolish the death penalty. According to the report, of the 39 capital cases resolved in Illinois in 2003, only two resulted in a death sentence. Neither of those sentences was issued in Cook County. Additionally, four of the five juries who considered the death penalty in 2003 rejected it.

...The report also pointed to the disproportionate number of minorities facing possible death sentences in Cook County. Of the 175 pending capital cases the coalition identified, 74 percent of the defendants are black and 15 percent are Latino. Meanwhile, both death sentences handed down in the state in 2003 involved crimes against white victims.

Illinois spent $32 million in 2003 trying capital cases.

[Executive director of the coalition, Jane] Bohman said the cost of trying capital cases, combined with the shrinking number of death sentences due to skepticism about wrongful convictions and the lack of a foolproof system for convicting criminals, means the use of the death penalty in Illinois cannot be justified. "Our state can no longer be haunted by the specter of execution of an innocent person," Bohman said.

You can access the report here.