Richard Gephardt: “I rise in strong support of the Racial Justice Act, and urge Members to reject the McCollum amendment and to vote for…”

“I rise in strong support of the Racial Justice Act, and urge Members to reject the McCollum amendment and to vote for the Racial Justice Act. I make this statement as a supporter of the death penalty, but also one who wants the death penalty to be meted out fairly. I want the American people to all believe in the fairness of our legal system. Listen to this fact. In one judicial circuit, even though blacks make up 40 percent of all murder victims, every single death penalty that was sought over a 12-year period involved victims who were white. Unfortunately, this is not an isolated example. There are other circuits, other counties, other areas where these facts are true. That is what this debate today is all about, it is about statistics. It is not about quotas. It is not about revoking the death penalty. It is not about overturning convictions or reopening trials, because none of that would happen if this act becomes law. The question here is much more simple than that. The question is, Should defendants be able to use statistics that sometimes show an astounding pattern of discrimination, one that is hard to find in the facts of any particular case? Should a defendant whose life is on the line be allowed to compare their sentence to other sentences, to compare the facts, and to be able to make a case for fairness? Every precedent says they should.…”