Sign-On Letter to Senators Specter and Leahy Regarding Senate Judiciary Mark up of S. 155, The Gang Prevention And Effective Deterrence Act of 2005

The Honorable Arlen Specter
Chair, Senate Judiciary Committee
Washington, D.C. 20510

The Honorable Patrick Leahy
Ranking Member, Senate Judiciary Committee
Washington, D.C. 20510

Re: Senate Judiciary Mark up of S. 155, The Gang Prevention And Effective Deterrence Act of 2005

Dear Senators Specter and Leahy:

The undersigned organizations write to oppose the capital sentencing provisions in the Gang Prevention and Effective Deterrence Act of 2005 (S.155), which is scheduled for mark up on June 30, 2005. This bill would unwisely create several new death-eligible offenses and increase the penalty for some existing crimes to death, at a time of growing concern regarding the fairness and reliability of our nation's capital punishment system. Further, it expands venue in capital cases so that crimes need not be prosecuted in the jurisdiction where they occurred, raising troubling questions of whether accused persons would have a fair trial by a jury of their peers.

The increasing numbers of innocent people released from death row illustrates the fallibility of our nations death penalty system. Last year, a University of Michigan study identified 199 murder exonerations since 1989, 73 of them in capital cases. The same study found that death row inmates represent one quarter of one percent of the prison population but 22 percent of the exonerated. Since 1973, 119 innocent people have been released from death row.

The death penalty is also racially and economically discriminatory. 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 person of color. The explanation for these extremely troubling disparities is unclear, but the possibility of discrimination and bias cannot be ruled out. 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.""

S. 155 would create new federal death-eligible offenses out of crimes typically prosecuted in state courts. The law will flout evolving community standards regarding the appropriateness of the death penalty for certain offenses. This would interfere with state's' ability to decide for its self whether it will enact the death penalty. In contrast to the trend in many states, federal prosecutors appear to be seeking the death penalty more often than they have in the past.

S.155 also expands venue in capital cases, making any location even tangentially related to the crime a possible site for the trial. This raises constitutional concerns as well as public policy issues. The Constitution states that "" the Trial of all Crimes . . . shall be by Jury; and shall be held in the State where the said Crimes shall have been committed.""[1] This concept is important in order to prevent undue hardship and partiality when an accused person is prosecuted in a place that has no significant connection to the offense with which he is charged. This proposed change in S. 155 will increase the inequities that already exist in the federal death penalty system, giving prosecutors tremendous discretion to ""forum shop"" for the most death-friendly jurisdiction in which to try their case. The ability of federal prosecutors to choose their venue, across a wide range of possible states and jurisdictions, will lead to an increase in the racial and geographic disparities already present in the federal death penalty system.

For these reasons, we urge you to oppose this legislation. The undersigned organizations hope that we can work with you to amend S.155 to eliminate the federal death-eligible offenses and to eliminate Section 203, which expands venue in capital cases. Thank you very much for your attention to this important matter.

Respectfully Submitted,

Gregory Nojeim
Acting Director
American Civil Liberties Union
Washington Legislative Office

Tony Hileman
Executive Director
American Humanist Association

Alexandra Arriaga
Director of Governmental Relations
Amnesty International USA

Mike Farrell President
Death Penalty Focus

Roy Speckhardt
Director
Equal Partners in Faith

Wade Henderson
Executive Director
Leadership Conference on Civil Rights

Robert Deans
Executive Director
Murder Victims' Families for Reconciliation

Renny Cushing
Executive Director
Murder Victims' Families for Human Rights

Hilary Shelton
Director
NAACP Washington Bureau

Barry C. Scheck
President
National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers

Diann Rust-Tierney
Executive Director
National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty

Celeste Fitzgerald
Director
New Jerseyans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty

Jenni Gainsborough
Director, Washington Office
Penal Reform International

Steve Hall
Director
StandDown Texas Project

cc: Senate Judiciary Committee
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid

Footnote

[1] U.S. Constitution, Article III Section 2