Political Quotes

“I have been on this floor many times to talk about the need to support law enforcement and to ensure our criminal justice system serves everyone fairly. I do so again in light of a very disturbing report issued by the Justice Department's inspector general last week which describes serious flaws in some of our Nation's crime labs. The report focused on 13 crime lab examiners whose work was seriously flawed, but the worst part is that their testimony contributed to the convictions of thousands of offenders, including 60 people on death row. The FBI launched an investigation. They discovered these mistakes, but even after they discovered them, it took them 5 years to notify those who were impacted--5 years that people were sitting in prison. During that time 3 of the 60 people on death row who were convicted and put on death row on potentially flawed evidence were executed and thousands more sat behind bars. It is shocking and unacceptable. I mention this because even in a country such as ours, our criminal justice system is not infallible, and that is why I again urge the Senate to take up and pass the Justice For All Reauthorization Act. It is a bill I introduced with Senator Cornyn last year. It is a bipartisan piece of legislation which includes the Kirk Bloodsworth Post-Conviction DNA Testing Grant Program, which seeks to prevent travesties such as those described in the IG report.…”