Illinois repealed capital punishment in 2011. Four years later, a state lawmaker wants to bring it back.
Senator Bill Haine, an Alton Democrat, says some acts are so evil, they call for a special response.
"The law should be a force reckoned with,” Haine said. “And part of that is to have available, to a prosecutor and to a jury, the option of asking for the death penalty -- if someone forfeits one's life if they cross that line."
Haine says he'll file legislation to reinstate the death penalty next month, when the Senate's session resumes. But he says he'd limit the scope of crimes.
Haine says the ultimate punishment should be reserved for serial killers, the premeditated murder of police, those who kill children and mass murderers.
Critics of the death penalty argue it's not an effective deterrent. They also say the system is prone to racial prejudice and flaws that could send innocent people to their deaths.
