Illinois death penalty: When was the last death penalty in Illinois?

Since 2011, the death penalty has been abolished in the United States state of Illinois.

Until 1928, Illinois used hanging as a method of execution.  The last person executed using this method was Charles Birger, who was publicly executed the same year.

After being overturned in Furman v. Georgia in 1972, the death penalty was reinstated in Illinois on July 1, 1974, but was later overturned by the Illinois Supreme Court in 1975.

On July 1, 1977, Illinois officially reinstated the death penalty. The state of Illinois adopted lethal injection as the default method of execution on September 8, 1983, but the electric chair remained operational to replace lethal injection if necessary.

The last man executed in Illinois was Ripper Crew member Andrew Kokoraleis in 1999.

On March 9, 2011, Democratic Governor Pat Quinn signed legislation to abolish the death penalty in Illinois, effective July 1, 2011, and commuted the death sentences of the fifteen inmates on Illinois’ death row to life imprisonment.

Quinn was chastised for signing the bill after stating his support for the death penalty during his gubernatorial campaign in 2010, which he won with 46.8 % of the vote.