Current Events > Democrats unveil proposal to abilidh federal death penalty

(+) Yeah! (+)

Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, the incoming chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., are unveiling legislation that would seek to end federal capital punishment, putting a focus on the issue as their party prepares to take over complete control of Congress, along with the White House.

The Democratic proposal, shared first with NPR, comes as the party will have unified control of Congress after victories in two Georgia Senate races, a change in fortunes for Democratic legislative priorities. The legislation would end capital punishment at the federal level and require the resentencing of all federal inmates on death row.

"There are three lives that hang in the balance this week alone," Pressley said, speaking along with Durbin in an exclusive joint interview. "And this is why we reintroduced this bill this week and are urging Congress to act immediately to pass it. State-sanctioned murder is not justice."

Former Attorney General William Barr announced in July 2019 that the Justice Department would resume federal executions, ending what had been a nearly two-decade hiatus. At the time, Barr and Justice Department officials said they were carrying out the will of judges and juries and providing justice for "staggeringly brutal murders."

The federal government executed 10 prisoners last year, more civilian prisoners than all the states combined over the same period. And more executions are scheduled for the final days of the Trump administration before President-elect Joe Biden takes office.

"Here we are in the closing hours of the Trump administration, when they are in a mad dash to give pardons for federal crimes committed by their friends, and an equally mad dash to try to execute these people who have been on death row for years, if not decades," said Durbin, who will take over as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee in the coming weeks. "That is just unconscionable."

For his part, Biden has said he wants to work with Congress to pass a law to eliminate capital punishment at the federal level and to "incentivize" states to follow that example.

Last year, transition spokesman T.J. Ducklo told NPR that "the president-elect opposes the death penalty, now and in the future, and as president will work to end its use."

Pressley said she has been in "active conversation" with the Biden-Harris transition team about the issue, and that she is "very optimistic" about the chances for passage of the legislation. Late last year, she led her colleagues in a letter to the incoming administration, calling on it to abolish the death penalty as well as to use executive action to end all federal executions.

"I'm calling on him to use that full authority with the stroke of a pen to halt all federal executions and save lives," Pressley said. "He should also require the Department of Justice to no longer seek the death penalty for future cases, and permanently dismantle the Terre Haute facility where those federal executions take place."

But ultimately, Pressley said, passing the legislation is critical so that the end of capital punishment at the federal level has the force of law, preventing a future president from reinstating it.

Give that the Senate will be divided 50-50, with Vice President-elect Kamala Harris as the tiebreaker, there will still be partisan hurdles to cross. It is unclear whether such a proposal would garner support among House and Senate Republicans.
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Support for capital punishment is at its lowest point over the past five decades, according to Gallup polling. While there have been declines in support for the death penalty among Democrats and independents, according to Gallup's historical data, support among Republicans has remained relatively steady.

Pressley said she believes there was a "very significant flashpoint" in the debate over capital punishment when the Justice Department proceeded last month with the execution of Brandon Bernard. Bernard spent more than half of his life on death row for a crime committed when he was 18. In the final days of his life, he pleaded with President Trump to grant him clemency, and his case drew high-profile attention.

Pressley, who introduced similar legislation in 2019, said that she saw an "outpouring" of support for ending federal capital punishment in the days surrounding Bernard's execution.

Durbin also acknowledged changing public sentiment.

"Because of DNA and other methods of investigation, we have discovered that many people who have been sentenced to death were innocent," Durbin said. "One-hundred seventy-three people in the last few years have been exonerated on death row. We got it wrong. The system of justice failed."

One of the longest-standing criticisms of capital punishment is the racial disparities in the United States. Some studies have shown that defendants convicted of killing white victims are sentenced more harshly than those who have killed Black victims.

"While we're in the midst of this national reckoning on racial justice, abolishing the death penalty must be a part of that discourse but also our legislative actions," Pressley said.

https://www.npr.org/2021/01/11/955693696/democrats-unveil-legislation-to-abolish-the-federal-death-penalty?
God bless


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Abilidh

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abilidh is finally happening!

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abilidh to you too

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Abilidh

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Fuck me

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abilidh tf out of it

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Damn straight
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May the abilidh be with you

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Antifar posted...

Abilidh me

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I think your phone's autocorrect may need the death penalty before it gets abolished
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Everything else going on right now, I give less than zero fucks about death row inmates.

Ask me again when we aren't facing the possibility of civil war, marshall law and doomsday viruses. Abilidh be with us

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I have a special abilidh!

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Are you ok, TC? It's okay to lie down. Don't tire your fingers out.

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would be good, we're pretty far behind the times on this

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PoundGarden posted...

Everything else going on right now, I give less than zero fucks about death row inmates.

Ask me again when we aren't facing the possibility of civil war, marshall law and doomsday viruses

As long as even one of those inmates could possibly be innocent, the death penalty is unconscionable.
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Could Congress pass anything to get rid of executions altogether or would each state have to pass laws to ban the process?

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NinjaWarrior455 posted...

Could Congress pass anything to get rid of executions altogether or would each state have to pass laws to ban the process?

I think that'd have to be done at the state level.

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sure ill hop on the abilidh bandwagon

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What is abilidh?

can we start the Church of Abilidh now

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Beemo_Season11 posted...

What is abilidh?

Abolish


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Beemo_Season11 posted...

What is abilidh?

Nothing what's abilidh with you?

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UnholyMudcrab posted...

As long as even one of those inmates could possibly be innocent, the death penalty is unconscionable.

True or false, I'm not interested in that debate at this time. I am very much interested in if we will be facing some real lockdowns until we can rat out and prosecute all the domestic terrorists masquerading as "patriots". I am very much interested in if Covid will continue to mutate and fuck us into the dirt.

I get what you're saying, but one that rarely happens and two the needs of the many outweigh the needs of death row inmates in my book. If we dont figure out wtf we're going to do about batshit insane Trump supporters and Covid ricky tick, it wont much matter what happens on death row as it'll be a brave new world indeed.

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PoundGarden posted...

True or false, I'm not interested in that debate at this time. I am very much interested in if we will be facing some real lockdowns until we can rat out and prosecute all the domestic terrorists masquerading as "patriots". I am very much interested in if Covid will continue to mutate and fuck us into the dirt.

I get what you're saying, but one that rarely happens and two the needs of the many outweigh the needs of death row inmates in my book. If we dont figure out wtf we're going to do about batshit insane Trump supporters and Covid ricky tick, it wont much matter what happens on death row as it'll be a brave new world indeed.

They can tend to both. It's not an "either or" situation. If you don't want them America to join the rest of the modern world in banning a barbaric practise, just say so.

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Beemo_Season11 posted...

What is abilidh?

who is abilidh?

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praise abilidh

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UnholyMudcrab posted...

As long as even one of those inmates could possibly be innocent, the death penalty is unconscionable.

With modern day forensics the days of someone innocents being proven without withsonable doubt of guilt and sentenced to death should be long gone.

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Prismsblade posted...

With modern day forensics the days of someone innocents being proven without withsonable doubt of guilt and sentenced to death should be long gone.

Lmao!

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where abilidh

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Funkydog posted...

They can tend to both. It's not an "either or" situation. If you don't want them America to join the rest of the modern world in banning a barbaric practise, just say so.

"Well folks, the country has been decimated by domestic terrorists the loss of life and property is unimaginable. Covid has continued to dwindle our numbers and we lost 30 million more Americans, BUT there is great news! The death penalty has been abolished! Rejoice!"



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PoundGarden posted...

You could've just posted that from the start

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PoundGarden posted...

"Well folks, the country has been decimated by domestic terrorists the loss of life and property is unimaginable. Covid has continued to dwindle our numbers and we lost 30 million more Americans, BUT there is great news! The death penalty has been abolished! Rejoice!"

Yes you are a clown. Do you have an actual rebuttal of why two things can't be worked on at once?

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Funkydog posted...

They can tend to both. It's not an "either or" situation. If you don't want them America to join the rest of the modern world in banning a barbaric practise, just say so.

Putting mass murderers to death for their crimes is not barbaric. If you want America to be some hippy scared of our own shadow nation, just say so.

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Gesundheit, TC.

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Funkydog posted...

Yes you are a clown. Do you have an actual rebuttal of why two things can't be worked on at once?

Sure do. Not my problem you're not well read enough to see it right there in front of your moonface

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TC I dunno if you've noticed, but you've made a terrible misspelling in your topic title and I think we should all just talk about that in the form of jokes.
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Gamerguymass posted...

Putting mass murderers to death for their crimes is not barbaric. If you want America to be some hippy scared of our own shadow nation, just say so.

I'm not American mate. I just live in a country that outlawed it decades ago.

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In Abilidh we trust, in Abilidh we believe.

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Strider102 posted...

In Abilidh we trust, in Abilidh we believe.

Inshabilidh
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Funkydog posted...

I'm not American mate. I just live in a country that outlawed it decades ago.

Ah so you just want America to be as cowardly as your country. Gotcha.

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Antifar posted...

Fuck me

no thx

Death penalty is a waste of everyone's time and money anyway. Warehouse them for 90 percent of a life sentence at a massive amount more money in legal costs.

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As an abilidhionist, this makes me happy.



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