ACLU Calls on Congress to Address
Broad Issues
Affecting Fairness of Death Penalty
Statement of Diann Rust-Tierney,
Director of the ACLU Capital Punishment Project
WASHINGTON -- For the first time in the history of the modern death penalty,
Congress voted today to place limitations on the use of capital punishment.
Even though the effort was of questionable political motivation, the
unanimous vote by the House of Representatives to ban the execution of
pregnant women had the laudatory effect of showing that the death penalty
comes with deeply troubling baggage.
Although the situation that Congress addressed today is remote at best --
there has never been a case of a pregnant prisoner facing execution --
today's vote lays the groundwork for Congress to address the more disturbing
issues raised by capital punishment.
These troubling issues abound. Just today, for example, a study reported that
federal prosecutors favor whites over African Americans when agreeing to
settlements of criminal cases that avoid death sentences. And a June report
found that every two of three death sentences nationwide are overturned
because of serious errors.
Rather than focusing on non-existing situations, we call on Congress to vote
on bills that would address the inherent unfairness of the death penalty.
Such legislation is pending in both the House and Senate and includes:
The Innocence Protection Act of 2000 (S2690/HR 4167), introduced by Sens.
Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Carl Levin (D-MI), and by Reps. William Delahunt
(D-MA) and Ray LaHood (R-IL). It would allow death row prisoners better
access to DNA tests and to an experienced lawyer and would ensure that
sentencing juries are aware of the option of life imprisonment instead of
execution.
The National Death Penalty Moratorium Act of 2000 (S. 2463), introduced by
Sen. Russell Feingold (D-WI) would suspend executions while a national
commission reviews the administration of the death penalty.
The Accuracy in Judicial Administration Act of 2000 (HR 4162), sponsored by
Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-IL) would establish a 7-year moratorium on state
and federal executions, during which the government would be directed to find
standards to provide "overwhelming confidence that innocent parties will not
suffer the death penalty."
While the ACLU opposes capital punishment as incompatible with constitutional
prohibitions against cruel and unusual punishment, we believe that short of
abolition, Congress and the courts must ensure its fair application insofar
as humanly possible. Now that Congress has demonstrated its willingness to
place limitations on the scope and application of the death penalty, we urge
it to go further to address broader problems in a broken system.
___________________________________________________________
Larry Helm Spalding
ACLU Legislative Staff Counsel
Tallahassee, Florida