[Peace-discuss] Nobel for Ryan

[Boyle, Francis A]

Francis A. Boyle
Law Building
504 E. Pennsylvania Ave.
Champaign IL 61820 USA
217-333-7954 (phone)
217-244-1478 (fax)
(personal comments only)


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                                1 of 1 DOCUMENT

                      Copyright 2004 Copley News Service
                              Copley News Service

                            August 28, 2004 Saturday

SECTION: WASHINGTON WIRE

LENGTH: 1199 words

HEADLINE: Professor nominates former Illinois governor for Nobel Prize

BYLINE: Clare Howard Copley News Service

BODY:

   Francis A. Boyle recognized before him a man "wrestling with his soul." He
witnessed the rare public spectacle of a seasoned politician unable to reconcile
his nascent personal moral convictions with the public policy he was elected to
enforce.

   Boyle watched the governor of a major industrial state publicly struggle with
his position on the death penalty. He watched Illinois Gov. George Ryan learn
too much to endorse a system which both Ryan and Boyle believe is riddled with
inconsistency and injustice.

   Boyle said, "I watched Ryan wrestling with his soul, and I was stunned. It
was a remarkable struggle, and it touched me."

   A law professor at the University of Illinois, Boyle is point man for an
international committee advancing the nomination of Ryan for the Nobel Peace
Prize in recognition of Ryan's work on capital punishment.

   The two men have never met. They do not know personal details about each
other. They're an unlikely team. Boyle is a lifelong, Harvard-educated
abolitionist and activist. Ryan is a Republican law-and-order conservative who
voted in favor of re-establishing the death penalty when he was in the state
Legislature.

   It was as governor that Ryan had a painful change of conscience based, in
part, on work done by journalism students at Northwestern University. The
students were able to establish the innocence of a man on death row. Their work
precipitated other revelations that brought into question the reliability of the
criminal justice system.

   During a recent interview in his office at the University of Illinois in
Champaign, Boyle said he watched as Ryan suffered publicly for his position.
That's when Boyle decided to use his special qualification as a professor of
international law to nominate Ryan for the Nobel Peace Prize.

   Boyle had been asked to make nominations of other people in the past and had
always declined. Ryan is his first nomination, and it's based on his own
initiative.

   Since making the decision, Boyle has nominated Ryan for the past two years.
Last year, Boyle was told Ryan reportedly was among the top five contenders for
the 2003 award. Also among the top five were Pope John Paul II; Shirin Ebadi,
who won the award; Vaclav Havel; and Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

   This spring, Boyle received a letter confirming his second nomination of Ryan
for the 2004 prize, with results to be announced Oct. 15.

   Boyle beefed up his 2004 nomination with a copy of the documentary "Deadline"
that aired on "Dateline NBC" last month. He also reminded the Nobel committee
that the indictments against Ryan announced in December cannot be used to
presume any guilt.

   Boyle is outspoken in his belief the indictments are retaliation for Ryan's
position on the death penalty, in defiance of President George W. Bush and
Attorney General John Ashcroft who want to expand the death penalty.

   "Clear-cut retaliation," Boyle said.

   The Nobel committee gradually has moved beyond recognition of a person's good
work and has begun to recognize people for the future impact of their work as
well, Boyle said.

   "The award is given to influence the future, not just reward the past," he
said, noting such a philosophical shift leverages Ryan's nomination.

   "Education will change the public's perception of the death penalty," Boyle
said, citing his own international human rights class at the University of
Illinois as an example.

   At the start of class, most students slightly favor the death penalty. After
reviewing facts and arguing perspectives, most students favor abolition of the
death penalty, the professor said.

   "We spend two weeks looking at all the arguments in favor of the death
penalty. We look at why they are wrong," said Boyle, an avowed abolitionist who
"tells students flat out how I stand."

   Boyle said he watched in amazement as Ryan set up his special commission to
study the death penalty with noted members, including former U.S. Sen. Paul
Simon and author Scott Turow, who also is an attorney.

   When the report finally was issued and the Legislature failed to implement
any recommendations, Ryan issued his blanket clemency.

   Co-chairman of the special commission was Frank McGarr, former chief judge of
the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

   McGarr said he is not in favor of total abolition of the death penalty but is
disappointed the Illinois Legislature did not implement more of the
recommendations of the commission's two-year study.

   "I'd like to see total reform of the system leading up to the death penalty,"
he said. "I am not talking about total elimination but use very rarely and only
in the most extreme situations."

   McGarr said he had little contact with Ryan before or after appointment of
the special commission and believes that gives the recommendations of the
commission even more credibility because of their total independence.

   David Protess, journalism professor at Northwestern University and founder of
the Medill Innocence Project, said he is grateful Ryan took the results of the
project's death penalty work and used the information to affect public policy.

   "He is an excellent candidate for the Nobel prize. He has demonstrated great
courage, and (this process) shows the potential of journalism," Protess said.

   He and his students are examining capital punishment cases in other states
and are finding error rates even greater than in Illinois.

   "The problem in our state is the tip of the iceberg in an epidemic of
wrongful convictions," he said. "George Ryan took a bold and courageous stand."

   Protess said retaliation comes with that kind of decisiveness; however, he
can't see the link between Ryan's capital punishment work and the indictments
against him.

   "He took a bold and courageous stand. The public is yearning for that in our
elected officials," Protess said.

   Boyle does link the indictments with the former governor's capital punishment
work.

   "The reaction to Ryan has been incredibly negative. Everyone is beating up on
him from legislators to families of victims," he said. "I tried to figure out
what I could do. As a professor of international law, I'm qualified to make this
nomination."

   He organized an international committee of lawyers and a psychiatrist to
advise on the 2004 nomination. In the meantime, indictments were issued against
Ryan.

   "We waited. We consulted. We all agreed, he should be nominated again," Boyle
said. "None of this Nobel work has been organized with Ryan. I stay away from
him."

   Boyle has received his share of threats for his abolitionist work.

   "I have a wife and three sons. I do not want vicious criminals out on the
streets at night," he said, acknowledging that the process of advancing
abolition of the death penalty has been more difficult for Ryan.

   "He's paying a pretty terrible price," Boyle said. "The virtue of Gov. Ryan
is that he's made people think about the issue."

   Boyle believes the death penalty still exists in the United States when it's
been outlawed in most of the civilized world because American society glorifies
violence as a means to solve problems.

   "Gov. Ryan gives us all hope that reason can prevail," Boyle said.

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