In 2011, Illinois abolished the death penalty because of its track record of executing innocent people (somewhere between 20 and 75 over its history, posthumous

In 2011, Illinois abolished the death penalty because of its track record of executing innocent people (somewhere between 20 and 75 over its history, posthumously exonerated obviously). In 2018, the then governor called for its reintroduction but it foundered. Oddly enough, the first execution (before it was a state) was a man burned at the stake for witchcraft in 1779 when it was under the jurisdiction of Virginia (during the Revolutionary War).