DEADLINE

"January 2003: Illinois Governor George H. Ryan's term is nearly over as the nation awaits his decision on 167 clemency hearings of death row cases. In 2000, a group of journalism students from Northwestern University proved a man's innocence only hours before his scheduled execution. Twelve more men on death row are found innocent shortly thereafter but the state legislature ignores a special commission recommendation to massively overhaul the system. A lifelong capital punishment supporter, Governor Ryan struggles to find a solution-leave office having done nothing or take unprecedented action to force change.

Directors Katy Chevigny and Kirsten Johnson take us along with Governor Ryan as he weighs his next steps. Commission members who studied the inner workings of the system say there can be no guarantees that innocent people will not continue to get death sentences under the current system. Exonerated men from around the country who advocate justice system reform travel to Illinois to encourage Ryan to commute the sentences of Illinois' condemned, and victim's families revisit the pain of their losses.

DEADLINE explores the history of capital punishment in the United States, from its moratorium by the Supreme Court in 1972 and its reinstatement in 1976. But at its core it provides a balanced framing of this hotly political topic as it played out in Illinois through the voices of Ryan, condemned men found innocent, and the families of victims as well as of the convicted, all of whom weigh in on capital punishment in the U.S."

Wednesday 6/16 at 2:00 p.m.

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