[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 11]
[House]
[Page 16486]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                      TOPICS OF NATIONAL INTEREST

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. LaTourette). Under a previous order of 
the House, the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Duncan) is recognized for 
5 minutes.
  Mr. DUNCAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise tonight to speak on two unrelated, 
but very important topics of national interest.


                           Capital Punishment

  Mr. DUNCAN. Mr. Speaker, first, I spent 7\1/2\ years before coming to 
Congress as a criminal court judge, trying felony criminal cases. I 
tried several death penalty cases, and I think I am the only Member of 
this Congress who has sentenced anyone to the electric chair.
  It is almost impossible, Mr. Speaker, to get a jury to return a death 
sentence today. Despite polls showing very high support for capital 
punishment, it is one thing to favor the death penalty, but a much more 
difficult thing to actually impose it. It is so difficult, in fact, 
that most prosecutors will not even ask for a death sentence except in 
the most gruesome, horrible cases; and that is the main point I wish to 
make today, that juries return death sentences only in extremely 
brutal, terrible crimes.
  In fact, it has been the law in this country for many years that an 
ordinary, simple murder, if there is such a thing, with nothing more, 
is not a capital case. To have a case justifying the death penalty, 
there must be aggravating circumstances that outweigh any mitigating 
factors, anything sympathetic in favor of the defendant. There have to 
be multiple crimes or killings, circumstances that make the case 
especially heinous.
  I do not think a death sentence is appropriate except in 1 in 1 
million very rare, very unusual kinds of cases. But I do believe that 
there are cases which are so gruesome, so horrendous that a death 
sentence is the only appropriate punishment. Those who oppose the death 
penalty should ask themselves, would they oppose it if their daughter 
or wife or sister was brutally raped as her three small children 
watched and then all were strangled to death, an actual case.
  The media does a great job gaining sympathy for those who are about 
to be put to death. I wish they would do just as good a job describing 
the sickening details of the murders that have been committed, even if 
almost shockingly, a prosecutor can get a rare, unusual jury to return 
a death sentence, the trial judge sits as the 13th juror and must later 
approve the verdict or grant a new trial or sometimes a lesser 
sentence. Following the trial judge, both State and Federal appellate 
courts review the case. Usually at least 30 or 40 judges review a death 
sentence before it is carried out, and many of these judges are 
philosophically opposed to the death penalty. There seems to be a real 
drum beat in the media to do away with capital punishment.
  I urge my colleagues and others to look very closely at this before 
they jump on this particular band wagon.


                    Shortage of Teachers in America

  Mr. DUNCAN. Secondly, Mr. Speaker, another important, but unrelated 
issue of national concern is the impending teacher shortage. This is a 
very artificial, political government-produced shortage. It has come 
about only because the teachers' unions and colleges of education want 
to drastically restrict and limit and control the number of people 
allowed to teach in the Nation's public schools.
  If a person with a Ph.D. and 30 years of experience, say a chemist, 
wanted to teach after working for years for the Government, he cannot 
do so under the rules in most States today. If a small college went 
under and a professor with 25 years of teaching experience, let us say 
a professor of English, wanted to move to a public school, he could not 
do so in most States today. If a very successful businessman wanted to 
teach for a few years as a way to contribute back to society, he could 
not do so today, despite all of his great wealth and success and 
experience. Why? Because they would not have the required degrees in 
education.
  So school boards are restricted to hiring 22-year-olds with no 
experience because they have taken a few education courses over people 
with Ph.D.s and great experience and success and knowledge who have not 
had the education courses. This makes no sense at all at any time, but 
it is crazy in a time when there is or is about to be a teacher 
shortage. School boards should never hire an unqualified teacher, but 
they should be given the flexibility and freedom and power to hire 
people who have great knowledge or experience or success in a 
particular field, even if they have never taken an education course. If 
they could do this, there would be no teacher shortage in this country. 
There are hundreds of thousands of experienced, well-trained, well-
educated people with degrees and even graduate degrees who have not 
taken education courses, but who could and would make great teachers, 
if only government regulations would give them the freedom and 
opportunity to do so.

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