Jerrold Nadler: “I rise in support of this amendment. I had the honor of offering a similar amendment before the House Judiciary…”

“I rise in support of this amendment. I had the honor of offering a similar amendment before the House Judiciary Committee last month. This amendment replaces the death penalty with life imprisonment. Mr. Chairman, I do not believe the death penalty is right, and I know there are many who disagree with me. But even those who believe the death penalty is morally right should be worried about mistakes. The death penalty, once imposed, can never be recalled. Innocent people should never be put to death. As the late Justice Marshall said: No matter how careful courts are, the possibility of perjured testimony, mistaken honest testimony, and human error are all too real. We have no way of judging how many innocent persons have been executed, but we can be certain that there were some. Last year, Chairman Edwards released a report which documents 48 people on death row who were released because of significant new evidence of their innocence since 1973.”