Dead Man Walking (film) the same name, premiering in San Francisco. Yvonne Koslovsky-Golan, author of "The Death Penalty in American Cinema: Criminality and Retribution in Hollywood Film", stated that even though public debate on the death penalty increased for a period after the release of "Dead Man Walking", the film did not result in "real political or legal change" but that it did encourage additional academic study on the death penalty. Dead Man Walking (film) Dead Man Walking is a 1995 American crime drama film starring Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn, and co-produced and directed by Tim Robbins, who adapted the screenplay from the
The Exonerated (play) statute of limitations for the crimes had been exceeded. Ryan declared a moratorium on the use of the death sentence in the state in 2000. In early January 2003, shortly before he left office, he pardoned four men whom he believed to be innocent. On January 11, 2003, having lost confidence in the state's penal system, Ryan commuted the death sentences of 167 prisoners on Illinois’ death row to life imprisonment. He said that would allow them to appeal their convictions. In 2005, the play was adapted into a film of the same name, starring Susan Sarandon, Danny Glover and