Members of the Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty were joined Friday by people wrongly sent to death row and relatives of murder victims, including the sister of Nancy Bishop Langert. Langert and her husband were killed 20 years ago in north suburban Winnetka.
"We support strongly that we turn the resources and the focus of this state from the focus on this wasteful and flawed process, and start standing with victims and law enforcement to focus on prevention," said Jennifer Bishop-Jenkins, sister of murder victim.
"Continued use of the death penalty weakens respect for the sanctity of life in our society," said Bob Gilligan, Catholic Conference of Illinois.
Illinois has had a moratorium on executions for the past decade.
A vote on ending capital punishment in the state could come up for a vote next week in the General Assembly.
