[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 89 (Tuesday, May 23, 2017)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E697-E698]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           THIN BLUE LINE ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                         HON. SUZANNE BONAMICI

                               of oregon

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 18, 2017

  Ms. BONAMICI. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in opposition to H.R. 115, 
the Thin Blue Line Act. This bill unnecessarily expands the federal 
death penalty, and does not further the laudable goal of bringing 
justice to the law enforcement officers who make the ultimate sacrifice 
for our safety and security.
  The United States is in the minority of countries that still use the 
death penalty, and Americans' opposition to it has increased in recent 
decades, particularly as social scientists better understand the 
disparate effects of the death penalty on minority populations. A 
sentence of death is disproportionately used in cases involving 
defendants of color. According to U.S. Department of Justice, in 2011, 
41.7 percent of all death row inmates were African American, despite 
only making up 13.1 percent of the population. Furthermore, since 1973, 
159 people who were sentenced to death were later exonerated. There is 
no doubt that innocent individuals have been put to death in the United 
States--a fact that must

[[Page E698]]

not be ignored in a country that values justice under the law.
  I greatly respect and appreciate our law enforcement community. Local 
police, firefighters, and first responders put their lives on the line 
every single day to protect people in Oregon and across the country. 
Those criminals who target and murder police officers have no place in 
our society. Nothing in current law prevents those individuals from 
being prosecuted to the highest extent of the law, and to receive a 
sentence of death. Under current law, there are 16 aggravating factors 
that can be considered during criminal sentencing, and the federal 
government can allege the targeting or killing of a law enforcement 
officer--federal, state, or local--as an aggravating factor when 
considering the death penalty. This bill creates a 17th aggravating 
factor that is duplicative of existing law.
  I will continue to do all I can to support our law enforcement 
officers, particularly the admirable men and women who serve our 
communities in northwest Oregon. This bill, however, is an unnecessary 
expansion of the death penalty, and I therefore cannot support it.

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