Members and friends of the Illinois Academy of Criminology:

On Wednesday, January 26 at 6:00 PM at Loyola University, the Executive Committee, the Board, Officers and any interested members will meet to take a vote on taking a position on the report of Judge Fitzgerald’s Special Committee on Capital Cases. The five page report of the Special Committee is posted here for your perusal. Please note that the recommendation in paragraph VI of the report is that there be "routine (electronic) recording of interrogations" which was the subject of our October IAC seminar at Kent College of Law. I propose that in addition to supporting the recommendations of Judge Fitzgerald’s Committee, that we urge that the Committee further recommend the adoption of the American Bar Association Rule for prosecutors which states as follows:

Standard 3-1.2 The Function of the Prosecutor

c) The duty of the prosecutor is to seek justice, not merely to convict.

This rule was discussed throughly at our Spring Institute last May at DePaul (the panel included Sam Adams, Tom Breen, Maurice Possley and myself). To avoid the evil of sentencing innocent people to death in Illinois, we need to come to grips with the fact reported in the Possley-Armstrong Tribune series that several of the wrongful convictions in Illinois and nationally were due in part to prosecutorial zealousness. This ABA standard has been in place since 1993. It is time for Illinois to put it into practice. I have spoken to several of our past Presidents including Norval Morris and Jess Maghan, and they wholeheartedly endorse the position.

Please make your thoughts known. This is an opportunity to lend the Academy’s wisdom to this very important debate.

Your colleague,

Edward Mogul, President