(WAND) – A push to ban the federal death penalty has the backing of a senator from Illinois, among others.
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Cory Booker (D-NJ) introduced the legislation Wednesday. It would immediately ban the death penalty after Attorney General William Barr made the decision to resume federal executions for the first time in over 16 years. Barr ordered for a total of five executions to be carried out in December 2019 and January 2020.
Companion legislation came from U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley in the House of Representatives earlier in July.
“Last week I again at down with my longtime friend, Kirk Bloodsworth,” said Leahy. “Kirk was in prison for eight years, including two on death row, before DNA evidence exonerated him. The DNA testing program named in his honor has exonerated 50 more. The death penalty fails by any objective measure. It is too final and too prone to error. It fails as a deterrent. It is racially biased. And it is beneath us as a nation.”
Durbin argued the federal level should follow Illinois after it banned the death penalty, which he called “deeply flawed”, eight years ago. In contrast, Barr argued the death penalty can be necessary.
“We owe it to the victims and their families to carry forward the sentence imposed by our justice system,” he said.
The proposal has several cosponsors currently involved in the 2020 presidential race, including Sens. Kamala Harris (D-CA), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT). Sens. Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Brian Schatz (D-HI) are also cosponsors.
