About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

1 1 (October 15, 2008)

handle is hein.crs/crsajps0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Order Code RS22719 Updated October 15, 2008 Capital Punishment Legislation in the 110th Congress: A Sketch Charles Doyle Senior Specialist in American Public Law American Public Law Division 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 1 10th Congress to modify federal law in the area. None were enacted. One, S. 447/H.R. 6875, would have abolished the federal death penalty. Another (H.J.Res. 80) 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, H.J.Res. 96). Several proposals 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, H.R. 880, H.R. 1118, H.R. 1645, H.R. 2376, H.R. 3147, H.R. 3150, H.R. 3156, S. 330, S. 607, S. 1320, S. 1348, and S. 1860. Numbered among the new capital offenses and newly designated capital offenses would have been 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 or members of the armed forces, 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, H.R. 880, H.R. 1645, H.R. 1914, H.R. 3150, H.R. 3153, H.R. 3156, S. 1320, and S. 1860. This is an abridged version of CRS Report RL34163, The Death Penalty: Capital Punishment Legislation in the 110th Congress, by Charles Doyle. Introduction. Existing federal law treats capital cases differently. There is no statute of limitations for capital offenses. There is a preference for the trial of capital

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most