Feingold tackles capital punishment issue again




Wisconsin Senator Russ FeingoldSenator Russ Feingold (D-Wisconsin)
reintroduced legislation to abolish the death penalty at the federal
level. According to the Senators April 2009 e-newsletter to his
constituents, Feingold's Federal Death Penalty Abolition Act of 2009 would
put an immediate halt to federal executions and forbid the use of capital
punishment in cases where federal law is violated.

Feingold states that he opposes the death penalty "because it is
inconsistent with basic American principles of justice, liberty and
equality."

Wisconsin is 1 of 15 states that does not use the death penalty, having
abolished capital punishment in 1853. In the past 2 years 3 states have
enacted laws abandoning the practice. New Jersey and New York abolished
capital punishment in 2007, and New Mexico's Governor Bill Richardson
signed a bill in March of this year ending capital punishment in that
state.


The use of the death penalty in the U.S. has been controversial for a long
time. In 2007, the American Bar Association (ABA) called for a nationwide
moratorium on capital punishment. A study of state death penalty systems
by the ABA found numerous problems including racial disparities,
convictions based on bad evidence, and grossly inadequate defense systems.

According to Amnesty International, 59 countries still retain capital
punishment, and of those only 25 countries carried out executions in 2008.
Only China, Iran, and Saudi Arabia executed more people than the United
States in that same year.

Senator Feingold had previously introduced his death penalty abolition
bill in 2005 and 2007, but to no avail. The current bill, which he
introduced on March 19, has been referred to the Senate Judiciary
Committee for further consideration.

(source: The Examiner)