H0143R1744A01973 MSP:CMD 06/09/15 #90 A01973
AMENDMENTS TO HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 143
Sponsor: REPRESENTATIVE DERMODY
Printer's No. 1744
Amend Resolution, page 1, lines 1 through 16; pages 2 and 3,
lines 1 through 30; page 4, lines 1 through 19; by striking out
all of said lines on said pages and inserting
Urging the Pennsylvania Task Force and Advisory Committee on
Capital Punishment to complete its review, as directed by the
Senate, and issue its report before any further executions
are conducted in Pennsylvania.
WHEREAS, To study the many policy and procedural issues that
are implicated in the administration of the death penalty in
Pennsylvania, the Senate on December 6, 2011, by Senate
Resolution No. 6, established the Pennsylvania Task Force and
Advisory Committee on Capital Punishment; and
WHEREAS, The charge of the task force is to examine closely
all aspects of capital punishment in Pennsylvania, including the
overall cost of the death penalty, the method of execution, the
impact and services for family members of the victims and public
opinion; and
WHEREAS, Through the exercise of his exclusive power to grant
reprieves under section 9(a) of Article IV of the Constitution
of Pennsylvania, the Governor has temporarily delayed, and
intends in the future similarly to delay, all executions of
those who have been sentenced to death under Pennsylvania law
until such time as the report and recommendations of the task
force have been issued and considered; and
WHEREAS, A reprieve granted by the Governor to temporarily
delay the execution of an inmate who is sentenced to death does
not disturb the conviction of that inmate, the sentence of death
imposed upon that convicted murderer by the courts of this
Commonwealth or the conditions under which the imprisoned
murderer is confined by the Department of Corrections; and
WHEREAS, The issuance of reprieves by the Governor to delay
temporarily the imposition of the death penalty by lethal
injection also in no way suspends the investigation or
prosecution of capital crimes, the ability of judges and juries
to impose death sentences or the conditions of confinement of
any current death row inmate; and
WHEREAS, There are serious concerns about whether adequate
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procedures and protocols are in place to ensure that the death
sentence is administered in accordance with requirements of the
United States Constitution and the Constitution of Pennsylvania.
For example, of the 35 states that provide for execution by
lethal injection, only approximately one-third specifically
approve of the use of a chemical paralytic agent; and
WHEREAS, A justice of the United States Supreme Court
recently expressed his concern that decisions by state
legislators, the Congress of the United States and the Supreme
Court itself to retain the death penalty as part of our nation's
laws, "are the product of habit and inattention[,] rather than
an acceptable deliberative process that weighs the costs and
risks of administering that penalty against its identifiable
benefits"; and
WHEREAS, Given that death penalty cases raise more issues and
far more complex issues than other criminal cases, the same
justice observed that the machinery is "immensely expensive,
[and] chokes our legal institutions so they are impeded from
doing all the other things a society expects from its courts,
[and] that visits repeated trauma on victims' families"; and
WHEREAS, While there are currently 184 individuals on
Pennsylvania's death row, the death penalty in modern times has
been carried out only rarely in this Commonwealth; and
WHEREAS, In the nearly 40 years since the General Assembly
reinstated the death penalty, the Commonwealth has executed only
three individuals, all of whom voluntarily waived their right to
further due process; therefore be it
RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives urge the
Pennsylvania Task Force and Advisory Committee on Capital
Punishment to complete its review, as directed by the Senate,
and issue its report before any further executions are conducted
in Pennsylvania.
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