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(Bureau of Justice Statistics 1960-2000) Thesis: The status quo regarding State and Federal capital punishment statutes should be maintained. Preview: I am going to explain why it would be against the 10th Amendment to allow Capital Punishment on just a federal level, how the overcrowded federal courts couldn’t possibly try such a large flow of capital cases, and why the state statute can better reflect the geographical areas majority and why federal statutes need to remain as they are. The 10th Amendment states, “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people. The death penalty falls within the police power of the state reserved to it by the 10th amendment. The Amendment expressly declares the constitutional policy that Congress may not exercise power in a fashion that impairs the States' integrity or their ability to function effectively in a federal system. Therefore not only would it be unconstitutional to make the federal government the sol capital punishment enforcer it would be undermining the idea of federalism. The United States Government was built so that the Federal Government would not become too strong. States interest in promoting a civil society and enforcing its laws (to provide deterrence) Each execution of a criminal is a positive proof of the state's moral and legal authority to carry out the punishment; and a validation that the process works. The conviction in itself may not deter the criminal, but the execution always does. Although neither mandated by law nor required on moral grounds, capital punishment is a 100% effective deterrent against crimes of the criminal who's death-sentence is being carried out. In all of human history, not one single executed murderer ever committed another crime. (Washington Post Jan 11 2000) There has been no federal execution in 37 years, what kind of deterrence is this? In 1994, as part of an omnibus crime bill, the federal death penalty was expanded to some 60 different offenses. Among the federal crimes for which people in any state or territory of the U.S. can receive a death sentence are murder of certain government officials, kidnapping resulting in death, murder for hire, fatal drive-by shootings, sexual abuse crimes resulting in death, car jacking resulting in death, and certain crimes not resulting in death, including the running of a large-scale drug enterprise. (Wall Street Journal Dec. 17 1997) What was the point of expanding the federal death sentence to an outwards of 60 offenses if when one of these crimes is committed there is no punishment? Yes, federal capital punishment is important but the federal government does not enforce its laws on capital crime in the same efficient way the states can. There have been 668 state executions since 1976 when the death penalty was reinstated. Of the 3,670 currently on death row, 20 of them are on federal death row.( Bureau of Justice Statistics 2000) There is no possible way the federal courts could try and convict the high number of capital crime offenders. I. State statute can better reflect the geographical areas majority The number of federal prosecutions in which an offense punishable by death is charged, and to which special statutory requirements for the appointment and compensation of counsel apply, increased sharply after the 1994 Federal Death Penalty Act increased the number of federal crimes punishable by death. For example 1997 there were 153 prosecutions for murder compared 19,645 prosecutions by the states in the same year. (The FBI’s Uniform Crime Report 1997) USA Today recently reported that a forthcoming study reveals geographic disparities in the application of the federal death penalty. U.S. Attorneys in only 5 of the 94 federal districts submit 1/3 of all cases for death penalty consideration. (USA Today, 9/5/00) A. Analogy (Which can better govern 100 students 1 principal or 5 teachers?) B. State is better able to deal with local problems than the federal. In 1994, President Clinton signed the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act that expanded the federal death penalty to some 60 crimes, 3 of which do not involve murder. The exceptions are espionage, treason, and drug trafficking in large amounts. Two years later, in response to the Oklahoma City Bombing, President Clinton signed the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996. The Act, which affects both state and federal prisoners, restricts review in federal courts by establishing tighter filing deadlines, limiting the opportunity for evidentiary hearings, and ordinarily allowing only a single habeas corpus filing in federal court. Proponents of the death penalty argue that this streamlining will speed up the death penalty process and significantly reduce its cost. (NCCAP Legal Defense & Education Fund, July 1, 2000.) Summary: I have just explained why it would be against the 10th Amendment to allow Capital Punishment on just a federal level, how the overcrowded federal courts couldn’t possibly such a large flow of capital cases, and why the state statute can better reflect the geographical areas majority. Conclusion: Not only would it be unconstitutional, it would be inefficient and impractical if we did not maintain our present capital punishment two teared structure. A. Evidence: Racial Disparity in Federal Death Penalty Plea Agreements According to data collected by the Federal Death Penalty Resource Counsel Project, white defendants are more likely than black defendants to receive plea agreements in federal death penalty cases. An analysis of 146 cases prosecuted since Congress reinstated the federal death penalty in 1988 shows that while 60% of white defendants have avoided capital punishment through plea bargaining, only 41% of black defendants have reached the same agreements with federal prosecutors. (Chicago Tribune, 7/24/00) http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/bibliography.html- for more sources… sites to use: http://www.ncadp.org/stats.html http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/feddp.html Bibliography: Bibliography Bureau of Justice Statistics, "Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics" 1960-2000 The FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program has released the 1997 edition of Crime in the United States 10/04/1997 Cole, David, Opinion: Race, life and death, Washington Post, Jan. 11, 2000 DiIulio, John J., Abolish the death penalty, officially, The Wall St. Journal, Dec. 15, 1997, at A23 NCCAP Legal Defense & Education Fund, "Death Row USA" July 1, 2000. Editorial, Case against death penalty grows, USA Today, Sept. 5, 2000.. Word Count: 1006
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