Innocence Protection Act Gains Momentum
Feature Story by Teresa Kraly - 7/8/2002
On June 18th, the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and the Senate Judiciary Committee held back-to-back hearings on proposed reforms to the nation's capital punishment systems. Recent events, including the exoneration of the 100th person held on death row, expose, in the words of Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), "a death penalty system that is broken."In February 2000 in response to a growing concern about innocent persons being sentenced to death Sen. Leahy introduced the Innocence Protection Act (IPA) (S.486) which seeks to improve the administration of justice by ensuring the availability of post-conviction DNA testing in appropriate cases. Currently, many defendants are denied the opportunity for testing or are prevented from using the resulting evidence in their defense.
Wayne Smith, Executive Director of the Justice Project says "The Supreme Court and state legislative bodies are joining voices from across the political spectrum in calling for reform. The question is no longer if the system is flawed, but what are we going to do about it. To that end, Congress should pass the Innocence Protection Act."
In addition, the bill would encourage states to establish standards for the appointment of legal counsel for defendants facing the death penalty. Proponents of the bill argue that the interests of all Americans are served if capital defendants have access to evidence that may establish innocence and if they are represented by competent lawyers.
Currently, the House version of the IPA (H.R.912) has 232 cosponsors, including 171 Democrats and 61 Republicans. While this bill will not fix every problem in the administration of the death penalty, supporters argue that it will go a long way toward improving the fairness and reliability of capital trials, and in so doing will help restore confidence in the integrity of our criminal justice system.
Three men who were wrongly convicted of capital crimes were present at Tuesday's hearing: Ray Krone, William Anderson and Kirk Bloodsworth. Each was ultimately exonerated through the use of DNA evidence. Obtaining the evidence and exonerations took 16 years in the case of Anderson, 10 for Krone and nine for Bloodsworth. Without access to DNA evidence – which these men had to fight to obtain, but would be guaranteed with passage of the Innocence Protection Act – these men would have been put to death for crimes they did not commit.
Both advocates and opponents of the death penalty were united in support for the Innocence Protection Act. As Representative William Delahunt (D-Mass.) testified in the Senate hearing, "this bill is not about the death penalty. It's about the quality of justice in America."
In recent months, there has been widespread momentum throughout the country for reform of capital sentencing systems. On May 9, Maryland Gov. Parris Glendening announced a moratorium on the imposition of capital punishment in his state until a University of Maryland study on racial and geographic bias in death sentences is completed and the state legislature can review and debate its results.
In March 2000, Illinois Gov. George Ryan imposed a moratorium after 13 death row inmates were found to have been wrongfully convicted by the state's justice system. At the time of the imposition of the moratorium, Governor Ryan also announced the creation of a Commission on Capital Punishment, with a mission to study the death penalty in Illinois and develop recommendations for reform. In April 2002, the Governor's commission released its report containing 85 recommendations and called into question the general fairness of the state's imposition of capital punishment.
Also, in recent weeks, the Supreme Court has issued an opinion holding unconstitutional the practice of executing persons who are mentally retarded and made clear that the constitution requires that juries, rather than judges, must make the determination regarding whether a person should receive the ultimate punishment.
These developments have created a surge in momentum for capital punishment reform, including support for passage of the Innocence Protection Act.
