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Senate Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
Senate of Pennsylvania
Session of 2017 - 2018
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | June 27, 2018 05:00 PM |
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| From: | Senator Stewart J. Greenleaf |
| To: | All Senate members |
| Subject: | Capital Punishment |
| I am introducing legislation that will implement recommendations contained in the recently released report by the Joint State Government Commission’s Task Force on Capital Punishment. In 2011, the General Assembly approved a resolution (SR 6) I sponsored which directed the Joint State Government Commission to establish a bipartisan task force and advisory committee to conduct a study of capital punishment in the Commonwealth and report their findings to the General Assembly. According to the report, 162 condemned prisoners in the United States have been subsequently acquitted in a retrial, had charges dropped, or had pardons granted on the grounds of innocence. We know that DNA evidence has proved that other incarcerated people were totally innocent. The report concludes that there is no guarantee that Pennsylvania would not execute an innocent person. There are certain things we can do to ensure that no innocent person is condemned to die. The task force reported on 17 subjects related to the death penalty which include: cost, bias and unfairness, proportionality, impact on and services for family members, intellectual disability, mental illness, juries, state appeals and post-conviction, clemency, penological intent, innocence, alternatives, counsel, secondary trauma, length and conditions of confinement on death row, lethal injection, and public opinion. My legislation will address the recommendations of the advisory committee in three ways. |
Document #1
| Description: | The advisory committee recognized that the racial, ethnic, and religious makeup of a jury in a capital case is likely altered because members of certain racial, ethnic, or religious groups will be excluded because of their beliefs about capital punishment. In order to challenge the makeup of the jury, a capital defendant must currently show purposeful discrimination by the prosecution. My bill will allow challenges to the makeup of a jury on the basis of statistics and the exclusion of those with beliefs about the death penalty. |
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Document #2
| Description: | In order for a condemned offender to receive a commutation of the death sentence to life in prison or a pardon in the case of actual innocence, the Board of Pardons must vote unanimously to grant that relief. Historically, this has proved to be an impossibly high bar to clemency. In order for the Board of Pardons to serve as a safety net in cases of unjust sentences or wrongful convictions, my legislation will change the requirement to allow for clemency without a unanimous vote by the Board. The Governor will continue to have the discretion to adopt or reject the Board’s recommendation. |
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Document #3
| Description: | As an additional safety net to correct factual and legal errors, this bill will amend the Post Conviction Relief Act to authorize judges to order relief in particular circumstances. | |
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