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1 Congressional Record: Proceedings and Debates of the 90th Congress, First Session: Washington, Thursday, May 11, 1967 [1] (1967)

handle is hein.death/crdp0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Abolition of the Federal Death Penalty United States t oJAmerica PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 90t CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION WASHINGTON, THURSDAY, MAY 11, 1967 Senate No. 74 ABOLITION OF THE DEATH PENALTY Mr. HART. Mr. President, today I offer a bill to abolish capital punishment for Federal crimes. I am joined by the fol- lowing distinguished cosponsors Mr. BURDICK, Mr. HATFIELD, Mr. INOUYE, Mr. JAvITS, Mr. LONG of Missouri, Mr. Me- CARTHY, Mr. MONDALE, Mr. MORSE, Mr. NELSON, Mr., PROXMIRE, Mr. WILLIAMS Of New Jersey, and Mr. YOUNG of Ohio. Reasons for abolishing the death penalty are clear and unmistakable. It has failed to deter crime. It does not protect law enforcement officers. It does not permit rectification of errors. The long delay- now almost inevitable-between sen- tencing and execution can fairly be described as cruel and unusual punish- ment. And, it discriminates against minori,ies and the poor. NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL TRENDS A growing number of nations have ended the practice. There are now 73 countries-Bolivia having been added this past year-which have abolished the death penalty. Here in the United States, 13 of our States no longer permit capital punish- ment. My own State of Michigan was the first, 120 years ago. Rhode Island followed in 1852, and Wisconsin in 1853. Then came Maine, 1887; Minnesota, 1911; North Dakota 1915; Alaska and Hawaii, 1957; Oregon, 1964; Iowa and West Virginia, 1965; and that same year New York and Vermont eliminated It except for special cases. Capital punishment is today only in- frequently applied. In 1965, 67 persons were sentenced to death, as compared with 98 the year before. During 1965 there were 62 reprieves from the death sentence. In 1966 only one man was executed in the United States. During the past 36 years, there has been a steady decline in executions from a high of 200 in 1935 to 1 in 1966. Public opinion favoring abolition has increased in recent years The Gallup poll reports the following: Percent favoring death penalty Yes --------------------~ C8 1 46 No--------------------I ---2 43 No opinfin------------------~ 7 13 12 IS THE DEATH PENALTY A DETERRENT? Every civilized man shudders at the thought of the death penalty. Can it be justified? The strongest argument advanced by supporters of the death penalty is that it deters crime. Every Member of this body is acutely aware of this Nation's growing concern at crime rates in our country. At no time in our recent history has this been more forcefully expressed than it is today. The President's Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Jus- tice recently reported that: The existence of crime, the talk about crime, the reports of crime, and the fear of crime have eroded the basic quality of life of many Americans-controlling crime in Amer- ica is an endeavor that will be slow and hard and costly. Why, then, one asks, should we do away with a tool that can help stop crime? . But, is the death penalty deterrent? All J.he statistics and studies available to me either establish that capital punish- ment is not a deterrent, or simply point out that, statistically at least, there is no apparent relationship between murder and crime rate and the death penalty. If capital punishment deters murder, then those States without the penalty should have higher murder rates than those retaining the penalty. Yet crime statistics do not bear this out at all. Here are the 50 States, listed in order of murder and nonnegligent man- slaughter rates, per 100,000 population. The first figure is the number of execu- tions for 1930-65. The data come from the National Prisoner Statistics and the FBI's Uniform Crime Reports for 1965. The abolition States are italicized: Murder and nonnegligent manslaughter rates per 100,000 population, 1930-65 Executions, Rate per 1930-65 1o. Alabama --------- --------- - 135 11.4 Georgia -------------------- -36 11.3 South Carolina ---------------- 162 9.6 Florida ----------------------- 170 8.9 Mlississippil ------- 154 8.9 Nevada ----------------------- 29 8. 4 Louisiana --------------------- 133 8. 1 Tennessee - -- ------ 93 8. 0 North Carolina --------------- 263 7.9 T ex -s ............ ..........297 7.5 Maryland --------------------68i 6. 7 M isnuri ---------------------- 62 6.7 Virginta ----------------------- 92 6.6 Alaska ------------------------ 0 6.3 New Mexleo -------------------- 6. 1 Arkansas ---------------------- 118 5.9 Kentucky --------------------- 103 5.3 Illinois ------------------------ 90 5.2 Delaware --------------------- 12 5.1 Arizona ----------------------- 38 5.0 California --------------------- 291 4. 7 New York ------------------------- 39 4.6 3fichigan---------------------- ----0 4.4 Ok ola . . .-------------------- 59 4.4 Wlest Virginia ----------------- 40 4.4 Ohio -------------------------- 172 3.6 Colorado ---------------------- 46 3.5 Induna ----------------------- 41 3.5 Pennsylvania ----------------- 152 3.5 Ore(on ------------------------- 19 3.4 llau'aii- . .------------------------- 0 3.2 New Jersey ------------------- 74 3.2 Wyoming ---------------------- 2.9 Kansas----------------------2 15 2.7 New llampshire -------------- -- 2.7 M nssachusetts --------------- 27 I 2.4 N,~braska .................... - 4 24 Washington... 47 2.2 Afaine ------------------------- - 0 2.1 Rhode Island ------------------ 0 .1 Idaho ------------------------- 3 2.0 Montana ---------------------- i 1.7 Connctiit . .------------------- 0 1.6 South Dakota ----------------- 1.6 Utah ------------------------- 13 1..5 11isconsin ----_---------------- 0 1.5 ?Ifrnneota --------------------- - 0 1. 4 o1a ..------.----_----------------- 18 North Dakolq . .----------------- 0 (,.9 Vermaont .--------------------- 4 0.5 It is Interesting to note that the five States with the highest murder rates have carried out more executions than almost any other State, while the five with the lowest rates have abolished the death penalty. There may be some justifiable scienti- fic objections to this sort of comparison because climatic, environmental, eco- nomic, and social factors may also play a role. Vol. 113

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