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Sen. Feingold Introduces Bill to End Federal Death Penalty

On January 24, Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold introduced a bill to abolish the federal death penalty. He did the same in 2003 and before that in 1999. While the bill is just as unlikely to pass this year, his remarks are well worth reading. Here's a portion.

Mr. President, today I introduce the Federal Death Penalty Abolition Act of 2005. This bill would abolish the death penalty at the Federal level. It would put an immediate halt to executions and forbid the imposition of the death penalty as a sentence for violations of Federal law.

Since 1976, when the death penalty was reinstated by the Supreme Court, there have been almost 1,000 executions across the country, including three at the Federal level. At the same time, over 100 people on death row were later found innocent and released from death row. Exonerated inmates are not only removed from death row, but they are usually released from prison altogether. Apparently, these people never should have been convicted in the first place. While death penalty proponents claim that the death penalty is fair, efficient, and a deterrent, he fact remains that our criminal justice system has failed and has resulted in at least 117 very grave mistakes.

Nine hundred and forty-four executions, and 117 exonerations in the modern death penalty era. That is an embarrassing statistic, one that should have us all questioning the use of capital punishment in this country. And we continue to learn about more cases in which our justice system has failed. Since I first introduced this bill in November of 1999, 36 death row inmates have been exonerated throughout the country, 12 since I introduced this bill in the last Congress in February 2003. Since I last introduced this bill, 115 people have been executed nationwide. How many innocents are among them? We may never know.

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    Beating a dead horse.

    Good for him, lets wait and see what happens.

    Re: Sen. Feingold Introduces Bill to End Federal D (none / 0) (#3)
    by bad Jim on Mon Jan 31, 2005 at 02:15:24 AM EST
    Justice Harry Blackmun: From this day forward, I no longer shall tinker with the machinery of death.

    Justice Blackmun tinkered with the machinery of death well over 30,000,000 times. May we recieve Gods ETERNAL justice.

    Re: Sen. Feingold Introduces Bill to End Federal D (none / 0) (#5)
    by Johnny on Mon Jan 31, 2005 at 06:40:20 PM EST
    What are the odds this will go through? Everyone knows the bible says killing the killers is holy work.