[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 16 (Thursday, February 26, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E240]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        WITNESS PROTECTION AND INTERSTATE RELOCATION ACT OF 1997

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                           HON. LOUIS STOKES

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, February 25, 1998

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 2181) to 
     ensure the safety of witnesses and to promote notification of 
     the interstate relocation of witnesses by States and 
     localities engaging in the relocation, and for other 
     purposes:


  Mr. STOKES. Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to H.R. 2181, the 
Witness Protection and Interstate Relocation Act of 1997. Although I 
support the witness notification and relocation provision in this bill 
as well as the goals of the witness intimidation provisions, I object 
strongly to the inclusion of the death penalty for witness intimidation 
that results in death. It is also troubling that the death penalty is 
again applied for conspiracy offenses. This subjects a defendant to be 
sentenced to death without tangible evidence of guilt of murder and 
substantially increases the risk of a mistaken conviction and 
execution. I cite the report from the Death Penalty Information Center, 
``Innocence and the Death Penalty: The Increasing Danger of Mistaken 
Executions,'' which reports 69 instances since 1973 in which condemned 
prisoners were released from death row because of wrongful convictions. 
It did not have figures on how many innocent people were actually 
executed.
  I concur with the American Bar Association's resolution that the 
system for administering the death penalty in the United States is 
unfair and lacks adequate safeguards. The Bar Association resolution 
goes on to declare that a moratorium should be imposed on executions 
until a greater degree of fairness and due process is in place.
  There is compelling evidence from many jurisdictions that the race of 
the defendant is the primary factor governing the imposition of the 
death sentence. In the Ocmulgee judicial circuit in Georgia, the 
district attorney sought the death penalty in 29 cases between 1974 and 
1994; in 23 of those 29 cases--79 percent--the defendant was black, 
although blacks make up only 44 percent of the circuit's population. 
Another instance of the distorted effect of the death sentence is the 
evidence emerging under the Federal death penalty for drug kingpins. Of 
37 defendants against whom the death penalty was sought between 1988 
and 1994, 4 defendants were white, 4 were Hispanic, and 29 were black.
  It has been 25 years since the U.S. Supreme Court invalidated the 
death penalty in Furman v. Georgia; there is now a large body of 
evidence to indicate that the death penalty is still imposed in a 
manner that goes beyond the words of the law. It targets African-
Americans in a totally unacceptable way and although I strongly support 
improving the safety of witnesses and increasing the coordination 
between the Federal and State governments in protecting and relocating 
witnesses, I cannot support legislation which imposes an overtly 
prejudicial death penalty. I urge my colleagues to defeat this bill.

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