Four Dem Presidential Candidates Introduce Bill to Ban Death Penalty

Four Democratic senators seeking the party’s presidential nomination threw their support behind a bill that would abolish the federal death penalty, just days after the Justice Department announced it would restart executions after a nearly two-decade hiatus.

Senator Cory Booker, who sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee, introduced the legislation to ban federal capital punishment, which is co-sponsored by rival presidential candidates Senators Bernie Sanders, Kamala Harris, Amy Klobuchar, and other Senate Democrats.

The bill is a response to Attorney General William Barr’s order Thursday that the executions be scheduled for five death-row inmates convicted of murdering, torturing, and raping children and the elderly.

“Under Administrations of both parties, the Department of Justice has sought the death penalty against the worst criminals, including these five murderers, each of whom was convicted by a jury of his peers after a full and fair proceeding.  The Justice Department upholds the rule of law—and we owe it to the victims and their families to carry forward the sentence imposed by our justice system,” Barr said in a statement.

Booker called out the injustice embedded in the criminal justice system, saying the death penalty  is“fraught with biases against people of color, low-income individuals, and those with mental illness.”

Klobuchar has indicated that she agrees, saying, “A life sentence compared to a death penalty sentence depends on where you live, who your lawyer is and the color of your skin.”

Other contenders for the Democratic nomination have weighed in as well, frontrunner and former vice president Joe Biden pivoting just last week to oppose the federal death penalty after decades of backing it, most notably in the controversial 1994 crime bill.

“Because we can’t ensure that we get these cases right every time, we must eliminate the death penalty,” Biden said.

Democratic Senate whip Dick Durbin, who also co-sponsored the legislation, said he is “struck by the revelations we have had over the last few decades that led to dozens of exonerations of innocent prisoners who had languished for years on death row, awaiting execution for crimes they didn’t commit.”