Press Release: National Bipartisan Panel Calls for 18 Death Penalty Reforms

The Constitution Project seeks to formulate bipartisan solutions to contemporary constitutional and legal issues by combining high-level scholarship and public education.  It is housed at the Georgetown University Law Center, Washington, DC.

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National Bipartisan Panel Calls for 18 Death Penalty Reforms

Broad Consensus of Republican, Democratic, Conservative, Liberal, Pro- and Anti-Death Penalty Members

    Washington, DC - Following a year-long study, a distinguished and bipartisan blue ribbon committee of the Constitution Project today called for eighteen reforms in the death penalty system. The panel is composed of former judges, state attorneys general, federal prosecutors, law enforcement officials, governors, mayors and journalists, as well as current defense attorneys, religious leaders and victim rights advocates.  This is the first comprehensive consensus agenda proposed by an ideologically and politically diverse group with extensive death penalty experience.

    Entitled "Mandatory Justice: Eighteen Reforms to the Death Penalty," the report details eighteen specific recommendations that relate to various aspects of capital punishment. Among other things, the reforms call for adequate compensation, standards and training for defense counsel; the removal of certain classes of defendants and homicides from death penalty eligibility; greater flexibility for introducing evidence that casts doubt on a conviction or sentence; gathering of data on the role of race in capital punishment and involvement of all races in the decision-making process; elimination of a judge's ability to impose a death sentence despite a jury recommendation for life imprisonment; and requiring prosecutors to open their files to the defense in death penalty cases.

    "This was not an academic or political exercise," explains Beth Wilkinson, prosecutor in  the Oklahoma City bombing trial and a proponent of the death penalty. "The members of our committee have been directly involved with capital punishment. They also come from a wide range of political and ideological persuasions and differing views on the death penalty. Consequently, this consensus has tremendous credibility and legitimacy."

    "The goal is justice, not executions," asserts William Sessions, former federal judge and FBI director under Presidents Reagan and Bush. "Regardless of one's position on the death penalty, we all want to make sure the process is fair and that the right person is punished. These recommendations are essential to that goal."

    Charles Baird, a former judge on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals and a committee co-chair says, "After serving on the highest criminal court in Texas, I am convinced that individuals have been and will be executed without having their constitutional rights vigorously protected and enforced. These recommendations are a critical step to establishing better safeguards."

    "The state takes on no more solemn obligation to do justice than when it applies the death penalty," states former Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice Gerald Kogan. "In my experience as a prosecutor, defense attorney, trial judge, and supreme court justice, I've seen again and again that the system is falling short of meeting this obligation. Reform is not an option. It is a moral responsibility."

    Members of the committee plan to distribute the recommendations nationally to policymakers, provide expert testimony in reform legislation, and conduct a public education program.
 
 

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 **Note to editors:  A copy of the full report will be available at the news conference or by request.

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