The Death Penalty: Capital Punishment Legislation in the 110th Congress (CRS Report for Congress)
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| Release Date |
Revised Oct. 15, 2008 |
| Report Number |
RL34163 |
| Report Type |
Report |
| Authors |
Charles Doyle, American Law Division |
| Source Agency |
Congressional Research Service |
| Older Revisions |
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Summary:
Most capital offenses are state crimes. In 1994, however, Congress revived the death penalty as a federal sentencing option. More than a few federal statutes now proscribe offenses punishable by death. A number of bills were offered during the 110th Congress to modify federal law in the area. None were enacted. One, S. 447 (Senator Feingold)/H.R. 6875 (Representative Kucinich), would have abolished the federal death penalty. Another, H.J.Res. 80 (Rep McCollum), would have amended the Constitution to abolish capital punishment as a sentencing alternative for either state or federal crimes. Other proposed amendments would have eased constitutional limitations on the death penalty as a sentencing option, particularly in cases involving the rape of children, H.J.Res. 83 (Representative Broun), H.J.Res. 96 (Representative Chabot).
Several bills would have increased the number of capital offenses to include one or more newly created offenses or existing non-capital offenses newly designated as capital offenses, e.g., H.R. 855 (Representative Lungren), H.R. 880 (Representative Forbes), H.R. 1118 (Representative Keller), H.R. 1645 (Representative Gutierrez), H.R. 2376 (Representative Franks), H.R. 3147 (Representative Wilson), H.R. 3150 (Representative Keller), H.R. 3156 (Representative Lamar Smith), S. 330 (Senator Isakson), S. 607 (Senator Vitter), S. 1320 (Senator Kyl), S. 1348 (Senator Reid), and S. 1860 (Senator Cornyn).
Numbered among the new capital offenses and newly designated capital offenses were murder related to street gang offenses or Travel Act violations, murder committed during and in relation to drug trafficking, murder committed in the course of evading border inspection, murder of disaster assistance workers, and various terrorism-related murders.
A third category of proposals would have adjusted in one way or another the procedures used to try and sentence capital defendants, including those relating to where a capital offense may be tried, the appointment of counsel in capital cases, the pre-trial notification which the parties must exchange in capital cases, the procedures that apply when the defendant claims to be mentally retarded, adjustments in the statutory aggravating and mitigating circumstances, jury matters, and the site of federal executions. Among the bills offering one or more of these proposals were: H.R. 851 (Representative Gohmert), H.R. 880 (Representative Forbes), H.R. 1645 (Representative Gutierrez), H.R. 1914 (Representative Carter), H.R. 3150 (Representative Keller), H.R. 3153 (Representative Gerlach), H.R. 3156 (Representative Lamar Smith), S. 1320 (Senator Kyl), and S. 1860 (Senator Cornyn).
An abridged version of this report â without footnotes, appendices, and most citations, is available as CRS Report RS22719, Capital Punishment Legislation in the 110th Congress: A Sketch, by Charles Doyle.
