Bipartisan,
Bicameral Breakthrough Reached
On Death Penalty Reform Bill
Innocence
Protection Act Included In DNA Reform Package
. . . bill boosts help to states for using
DNA technology to solve crimes and protect the innocent
WASHINGTON (Wed., Oct. 1) – Sen. Patrick Leahy
(D-Vt.) and a bipartisan coalition of Senate and House lawmakers
Wednesday unveiled a sweeping measure today to combat crime and
reduce wrongful convictions through greater access to DNA
technology.
| The result of extensive negotiations between
Democratic and Republican leaders in the House and the Senate,
the Advancing Justice Through DNA Technology Act of 2003
contains a package of reforms aimed at reducing the risk of
error in capital cases and providing law enforcement with the
training and equipment required to effectively, and accurately,
fight crime in the 21st Century. Included is the
Innocence Protection Act, a death penalty reform effort launched
three years ago by Leahy, Rep. William Delahunt (D-Mass.), Rep.
Ray LaHood (R-Ill.), Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Ore.) and other key
allies in the project. |
|
Supporting Documents
|
The bill authorizes $1 billion to states over
the next five years to minimize the backlog of unanalyzed DNA
samples, expand and improve the capacity for crime labs to conduct
DNA analysis, train criminal justice and medical personnel in DNA
evidence, and promote the use of DNA testing.
“We have shown that the death penalty system is
broken, we know that these reforms will help, and we know that every
day we delay action may be another day on death row for these
innocent people,” said Leahy, the ranking Democratic member of the
Senate Judiciary Committee. “These mistakes carry a high personal
and social price. They undermine the public’s confidence in our
judicial system, they produce unbearable anguish for innocent people
and their families and for the victims of these crimes, and they
compromise public safety because for every wrongly convicted person,
there is a real criminal who may still be roaming the streets.”
A former prosecutor and longtime advocate for
death penalty reform, Leahy, Delahunt and others successfully
negotiated the inclusion of key provisions of the Innocence
Protection Act that he first introduced in 2000 in the overall DNA
package. The Innocence Protection Act of 2003 proposes critical
reforms, most notably a federal post-conviction DNA testing regimen,
assistance to states to improve the quality of legal representation
in capital cases and increased compensation in federal cases of
wrongful conviction.
It also establishes the Kirk Bloodsworth
Post-Conviction DNA Testing Program. Named in honor of a Maryland
man who was wrongly convicted of the rape and murder of a young girl
and who spent nine years in prison, the program authorizes $5
million a year for five years – a total of $25 million -- in grants
to help states defray the costs of such testing.
“Kirk Bloodsworth=s
battle to prove his innocence has been won. But his
nightmare of wrongful conviction has been repeated again and again
across the country,” Leahy said, noting that just a few weeks ago,
the State of Maryland charged another man with the crime for
which Bloodsworth was convicted and sentenced to death. The man,
who ironically served alongside Bloodsworth in prison, was caught
after prosecutors finally ran the DNA evidence in the case through
the DNA database.
Since the reinstatement of capital punishment in the 1970s, more
than 110 individuals who were convicted and sentenced to death have
been released from death row with evidence of their
innocence, according to the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC).
And since the introduction of forensic DNA typing in the early
1990s, many more individuals who were sentenced to long terms of
imprisonment have been exonerated by post-conviction DNA testing.
“This legislation is so important because it
will help prevent sending innocent people to death row, help make
sure those who are truly guilty are caught, and help prevent more
innocent victims from being created,” said Bloodsworth, who attended
the news conference Wednesday. “It took nearly 20 years of struggle
by my family and me to finally clear my name. Congress should act
immediately to pass this critical legislation to prevent any more
stories like mine.”
The bill also establishes the Debbie Smith DNA
Backlog Grant Program, which authorizes $151 million annually for
the next five years -- $755 million total – to eliminate the current
backlog crisis of unanalyzed DNA samples in the country’s crime
labs. Smith, a rape survivor and leader in promoting DNA use, also
attended the news conference.
“By far the most important reform we can
undertake is to help states establish minimum standards of
competency and funding for capital defense,” Leahy said. “Allowing
testing does not deprive the state of its ability to present its
case, and under reasonable rules for the preservation and testing of
DNA evidence, the practical costs, burdens and delays involved are
relatively small.”
Ray Krone, the 100th death row
inmate exonerated, according to DPIC, also praised the effort: “I
spent ten years in an Arizona
prison, three on death row, for a crime I did not commit. My
freedom is the result of DNA testing, and my wrongful conviction was
due, in part, to poor representation at my initial trial. My family
and attorney fought for years to have DNA testing allowed over the
objections of the prosecutor’s office. This bill will help prevent
any more cases like mine. This legislation is long overdue, and I
urge Congress to pass it immediately."
Leading sponsors of the bill also include Sens.
Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee,
Joe Biden (D-Del.), Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.),Arlen Specter (R-Pa.),
Mike DeWine (R-Ohio) Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Susan Collins
(R-Maine) and Gordon Smith (R-Ore.).
Sponsors of a similar measure in the House
include Reps. James Sensenbrenner, (R-Wisc.) chairman of the House
Judiciary Committee, William Delahunt (R-Mass.), Ray LaHood
(R-Ill.), John Conyers (D-Mich.), Howard Coble (R-N.C.) and Robert
Scott (D-Va.).
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Related Links:
Remarks Of Senator Patrick Leahy On
Introduction Of The Innocence Protection Act Of 2003
October 1, 2003
