ACLU Letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee Urging Opposition to the Capital Sentencing Provisions in S. 1735, the Gang Prevention and Effective Deterrence Act of 2003
United States Senate
The Honorable Patrick Leahy
United State Senate
Re: Expansion of the Federal Death Penalty - S. 1735
Dear Senators Hatch and Leahy:
The undersigned organizations write to oppose the capital sentencing provisions in the Gang Prevention and Effective Deterrence Act of 2003 (S. 1735), which is scheduled for markup on April 22. This bill would unwisely create several new death-eligible offenses at a time of growing concern regarding the fairness and reliability of the death penalty system. The offenses under this legislation that could be punishable by the death penalty are 18 U.S.C. Sec. 521 Criminal Street Gang Prosecutions; 18 U.S.C. Sec. 523 Violent Crimes in Furtherance or in Aid of a Criminal Street Gang; and 18 U.S.C. Sec. 1952 Interstate and Foreign Travel or Transportation in Aid of Criminal Street Gangs; 21 U.S.C. 841 et. seq. Murder and Other Violent Crimes Committed During and In Relation to a Drug Trafficking Crime; 18 U.S.C 1958 Use of Interstate Commerce Facilities in the Commission of Murder For Hire and other Felony Crimes of Violence and 18 U.S.C. Sec. 1111 et. al. Use of Interstate Commerce Facilities in the Commission of Multiple Murder.
The increasing numbers of innocent people released from death row illustrate the fallibility of this system. Just this week, a study from the University of Michigan identified 199 murder exonerations since 1989, 73 of them in capital cases. The same study found that death row inmates represent a quarter of 1 percent of the prison population but 22 percent of the exonerated.
The death penalty is also racially and economically discriminatory. After its careful study of the death penalty in the United States, the United Nations' Human Rights Commission in 1998 issued a report which rightly concludes: ""Race, ethnic origin and economic status appear to be key determinants of who will, and who will not, receive a sentence of death."" These problems are not confined to state systems: a recent Department of Justice survey documents racial, ethnic and geographic disparity in the charging of federal capital cases. Indeed, the review found that in 75 percent of the cases in which a federal prosecutor sought the death penalty, the defendant was a member of a minority group. The explanation for these extremely troubling disparities is unclear, but the possibility of discrimination and bias cannot be ruled out.
We are also concerned that, in creating new federal death-eligible offenses out of traditional state crimes, the law will flout evolving community standards regarding the appropriateness of the death penalty for certain offenses. In contrast to the trend in many states, federal prosecutors appear to be seeking the death penalty more often than they did in the past, and the Attorney General has ordered an increasing number of United States Attorneys to seek the death penalty in cases when they had recommended against it.
For these reasons, we urge you to amend S. 1735 so as to eliminate the federal death-eligible offenses. Thank you very much for your attention to this important matter.
Respectfully Submitted,
Laura W. Murphy
Director
ACLU Washington Legislative Office
E.E. (Bo) Edwards
President
National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers
Wade Henderson
Executive Director
Leadership Conference on Civil Rights
Hilary Shelton
Director
NAACP Washington Bureau
Rabbi Marla Feldman
Director
Commission on Social Action of Reform Judaism
Shari Silberstein
Co-Director
Equal Justice USA/Quixote Center
Alexandra Arriaga
Director of Governmental Relations
Amnesty International USA
Tonya McClary
Director of the Criminal Justice Program
American Friends Service Committee
Mike Farrell
President, Death Penalty Focus
Theodore M. Shaw
Director-Counsel
NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Inc.
Jenni Gainsborough
Penal Reform International