Leahy DNA/Death Penalty Reform Bill
Poised To Become Law This Weekend

 October 30, 2004

A section-by-section summary of the Justice For All Act

WASHINGTON (Friday/Saturday Oct. 29/30) – Capping four years of effort by a bipartisan House and Senate coalition that includes both supporters and opponents of the death penalty, modest but rare reforms in the way the death penalty is used in the criminal justice system are expected to take effect this weekend, when the Justice For All Act becomes law. 

The deadline for signing the bill is Saturday, and Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), a co-author of the package and original sponsor of its Innocence Protection Act section, said he believes that President Bush will sign it, rather than let it become law without his signature.  The Administration opposed aspects of the death penalty reform sections of the bill, which cleared Congress earlier this month. 

The Justice For All Act includes elements of the bipartisan Innocence Protection Act, first introduced four years ago by Leahy in the Senate and later in the House by Reps. Bill Delahunt (D-Mass.) and Ray LaHood (R-Ill.).  The Justice For All Act is a package of DNA and victims’ rights reforms, sponsored in the Senate by Sens. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and by Leahy, the ranking Democratic member of the Judiciary Committee.  Hatch is the panel’s chairman.  The package was sponsored in the House by Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner (R-Wisc.).  Other leading cosponsors in the Senate are Sens. Joseph Biden (D-Del.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Mike DeWine (D-Ohio), Gordon Smith (R-Ore.), Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), Susan Collins (R-Maine) and many other sponsors and cosponsors of other portions of the package.  

“This bill is a rare example of bipartisan cooperation for good causes,” said Leahy.  “It reflects many years of work and intense negotiation.  This is the most significant step we have taken in many years to improve the quality of justice in this country.  DNA is the miracle forensic tool of our lifetimes.  It has the power to convict the guilty and to exonerate the innocent.  It can end the suffering of people like Kirk Bloodsworth, who endured years on Maryland’s death row before finally getting the chance to prove his innocence.  And as DNA has become more available, it also has opened a window on the flaws of the death penalty process.  This is a bill to put this powerful tool to greater use in our police departments and our courtrooms.  It also takes a modest step toward addressing one of the most frequent causes of wrongful convictions in capital cases, the lack of adequate legal counsel.  These reforms, to put it simply, will mean better, faster and fairer criminal justice.”  

“I am glad that this long effort has yielded some good results and that our work will now become the law of the land,” Leahy continued.  “I will be pleased if the President signs our bill.  Republicans and Democrats joined together in asking President Bush and Attorney General Ashcroft to support our effort four years ago.  Had they helped us then, this could have become law far sooner.” 

# # # # #