Help Save a Life: Support Legal Competence in Capital Cases, and a Moratorium on Federal Executions

(June 6, 2001)

People are being wrongfully executed. Two key bills on the death penalty have been sent to both the House and the Senate that could slow the pace of executions. Your letters to Congress are very important. Many members who are not currently sponsors could become sponsors with some encouragement from constituents.

Members who are sponsors also need to hear from constituents, with a message of thanks. These letters help to balance the letters from pro?death-penalty constituents.

Dear Sen.________:
U.S. Senate
Washington, DC 20510

As long as executions continue, death penalty issues will maintain a high profile in society. Executions occur frequently. They have become commonplace. They are high profile, because many in society know that they are taking place. But with the exception of some of the more notorious cases, they rarely get mentioned in the news anymore.

Cases involving wrongful convictions, police and prosecutorial misconduct, and racial disparities in prosecution and sentencing appear regularly in the media. The impending execution of Timothy McVeigh has highlighted fundamental questions.

• Does the death penalty serve as a deterrent?
  
• Does executing a murderer bring closure and peace to the families of victims?
  
• Who has the right to take the life of another?

Anti-death-penalty advocates believe that it is possible to end the use of the death penal- ty in the U.S. To be sure, abolition will not occur in one swift motion. Many steps, in many states and at the federal level, will be necessary. But the movement toward abolition is real: the first step is to promote dialogue and education. This can be accomplished by two pieces of legislation, neither of which, itself, would end the death penalty.

The Innocence Protection Act and the National Death Penalty Moratorium Act have been introduced in both the House and the Senate. If these bills are to become law, it is crucial that they have substantial congressional support. This month we are asking you and your letter?writing group to send letters to each of your Senators and to your Representative. Each letter should address both the Innocence Protection Act and the National Death Penalty Moratorium Act.
Some members of Congress are cosponsoring one bill but not the other, some members are cosponsoring both, some members are not yet signed on to either bill. Concerns about the fallibility of the criminal prosecution system have created an opening for work on ending the death penalty. Perhaps most importantly, the current environment has created an opportunity for dialogue and education.

Many individuals who are concerned about fairness and accuracy in death sentences seek reforms and safeguards to reduce the likelihood of executing an innocent person. As they confront the issue of changing the criminal prosecution system, we expect that a number of these individuals will recognize that no amount of tinkering can ever make that system completely fair and accurate. Inequities in applying penalties (including the death penalty) will always remain, as will the possibility of executing innocent persons. We believe that individuals who come to this point in their thinking will recognize that the only way to eliminate the injustice of the death penalty is to eliminate the death penalty itself.

The Innocence Protection Act (IPA): introduced in the Senate (S 486) by Sens. Leahy (VT), Smith (OR), Collins (ME). A companion bill (HR 912): introduced in the House by Reps. Delahunt (MA) and Lahood (IL). Its two major provisions:

• Exonerating the innocent through DNA testing. Federal courts would be required to preserve biological evidence for possible future use, and to make it easier for all inmates to gain access to DNA evidence, have it tested, and use the results to challenge their convictions. States would have to meet these same requirements as a condition for receiving certain federal grants.
  
• Ensuring competent legal services in capital cases. The IPA would establish a National Commission on Capital Representation to determine minimum competency standards for court?appointed defense attorneys in capital cases and would provide grants to help implement those standards.

Between the reinstatement of the U.S. death penalty in 1976 and March 7, 2001, ninety-five people sentenced to death were subsequently set free when they were later proved innocent. Gov. Ryan (IL) imposed a moratorium on executions in Illinois pending a review of death penalty sentencing after it was revealed that 13 wrongfully convicted persons were released from death row during a period when 12 people were executed.

The National Death Penalty Moratorium Act: introduced in the Senate (S 233) by Sens. Feingold (WI), Levin (MI), Wellstone (MN), and Corzine (NJ). A companion bill (HR 1038) was introduced in the House by Rep. Jackson (IL). S 233/HR 1038 would place a moratorium on federal executions (only) while a National Commission on the Death Penalty reviews the fairness of the imposition of the death penalty.

In all areas of the criminal justice system, African Americans are disproportionately represented. Over 40% of death row inmates are African American, though they make up only 12% of the population. Nearly 90% of all people executed in the U.S. were convicted of killing whites, although people of color make up over half of all homicide victims in the U.S. Pat Robertson, a founder of the Christian Coalition and a long?time supporter of the death penalty, recently stated his belief that the death penalty has been administered in a way that discriminates against minorities and the poor, who cannot afford high?priced defense attorneys. He added his voice to the call for a moratorium.

GENERAL ASSEMBLY

The 212th General Assembly (2000) of the Presbyterian Church (USA): "Calls for an immediate moratorium on all executions in all jurisdictions that impose capital punishment," and "[D]irects the Stated Clerk of the General Assembly to communicate the call for an immediate moratorium and our continuing opposition to capital punishment to the President of the United States, our representatives in Congress, as well as the governors and legislators of the thirty-eight states with persons incarcerated while awaiting execution."