On January 31, Illinois Governor George Ryan (R), a death penalty supporter, put a hold on executions in the state after 13 inmates on death row had their convictions overturned. Since the state reestablished the death penalty in 1977, Illinois has released more prisoners from death row after proof of their innocence than it has put to death?13 overturned convictions and 12 executions. In recent years, journalists rather than lawyers in the system have been largely responsible for pursuing the exculpatory evidence. A Northwestern University journalism professor and his graduate students conducted investigations resulting in the overturning of three murder convictions, one of them days before the scheduled execution.

The moratorium has a number of supporters who back the death penalty, but want to ensure that it is justly applied. Crime solving using DNA technology has made tremendous strides over the past two decades. Many of the overturned Illinois convictions were supported by DNA testing and other evidence. Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy (D) has introduced legislation that would make DNA testing less complicated for death row inmates and improve the counsel they are afforded at the state and federal levels.

On One Hand...

Executions must stop until all convictions are carefully reviewed to ensure there are no innocent persons on death row. The state of Illinois, facing exonerating evidence, has set free more death row inmates than it has executed. With numbers like that, there is little doubt the Illinois and other states have wrongfully executed many innocent people.

How do innocents end up on death row? Bad legal representation due to lawyers who have never tried a capital case or who show up in court drunk. Others are wrongfully convicted for lack of DNA evidence or corrupt witnesses. In Alabama, Judy Haney was convicted of murder and sentenced to death, even though one of her lawyers came to court drunk. In Chicago, Rolando Cruz was sentenced to death for the rape and murder of a 10-year-old girl, even though another man confessed to the crime. After 10 years, Cruz was set free, thanks partly to DNA evidence.

On the Other Hand...

The death penalty must be mended, not ended. Reviewing every case on death row for new DNA evidence is an unnecessary, costly and lengthy process. Those convicted of a capital crime already benefit from an extraordinary appeals process which can drag out for years.

Over the past few decades, poll after poll has shown overwhelming public support for the death penalty. Imposing a moratorium will only open the door for abolishing the death penalty altogether. We still need this form of ultimate punishment as both a deterrent and a fitting punishment for the most heinous of crimes.

• 98 people were executed in 1999, the most since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976.

• For every seven executions since 1976, one other prisoner on death row has been found innocent.

• 38 states have the death penalty.

• The Federal Death Penalty Act of 1994 allows capital punishment for over 60 offenses, some of which do not involve murder.

• S. 2073, the Protection of Innocence Act, was introduced Feb. 10, 2000 to require DNA testing for death penalty convictions.

• 8 percent: average murder rate per 100,000 people in the U.S.

• 5 percent: average murder rate per 100,000 in countries that do not have a death penalty.

• Gov. George W. Bush has overseen 126 executions in Texas, more than any other governor.

American Civil Liberties Union, Death Penalty Information Center, National Center for Policy Analysis, National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty