I
106TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 5237
To institute a moratorium on the imposition of the death penalty at the
Federal and State level until a National Commission on the Death
Penalty studies its use and policies ensuring justice, fairness, and due
process are implemented.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
SEPTEMBER 21, 2000
Mr. JACKSON of Illinois introduced the following bill; which was referred to
the Committee on the Judiciary
A BILL
To institute a moratorium on the imposition of the death
penalty at the Federal and State level until a National
Commission on the Death Penalty studies its use and
policies ensuring justice, fairness, and due process are
implemented.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘National Death Pen-
alty Moratorium Act of 2000’’.
TITLE I—MORATORIUM ON THE
DEATH PENALTY
SEC. 101. FINDINGS.
Congress makes the following findings:
(1) Death sentences are disproprotionately
visted on the poor:
(A) About 90 percent of people facing cap-
itol charges cannot afford their own attorney.
(B) No State has met standards developed
by the American Bar Association (ABA) for ap-
pointment, performance, and compensation of
counsel for indigent prisoners.
(2) There is ample evidence that the death pen-
alty is applied disproportionately to members of cer-
tain racial and ethnic groups:
(A) Although African-Americans constitute
only 13 percent of the American population,
since 1976 African-Americans account for 35
percent of those executed, 43 percent of those
who wait on death row nationwide, and 67 per-
cent of those who wait on death row in the Fed-
eral system. Although only 50 percent of mur-
der victims are white, fully 84 percent of the
victims in death penalty cases were white.
(B) A study conducted by the House Judi-
ciary Subcommittee on Civil and Constitutional
Rights in 1994 concluded that 89 percent of
defendents selected for capitol prosecution
under the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988 have
been either African-American or Hispanic
American.
(C) In 1990, the General Accounting Of-
fice reported ‘‘a pattern of evidence indicating
racial disparities in charging, sentencing, and
imposition of the death penalty’’.
(3) Prisoner appeals have been severely cur-
tailed, increasing the risk of imprisonment and exe-
cution of innocent people:
(A) In a series of rulings since 1976, the
Supreme Court has restricted the rights of
death row prisoners to appeal their convictions
and death sentences in Federal courts, even in
cases where prisoners present complelling evi-
dence of innocence.
(B) In 1996, new legislation limited Fed-
eral court review of death penalty appeals and
severely curtailed public funding of legal aid
services for death row prisoners.
SEC. 102. FEDERAL AND STATE DEATH PENALTY MORATO-
RIUM.
Neither the Federal Government nor any State shall
carry out the death penalty until Congress considers the
final findings and recommendations of the National Com-
mission on the Death Penalty in the report submitted
under section 202(c)(2) and enacts legislation repealing
this section and implementing or rejecting the guidelines
and procedures recommended by the Commission.
TITLE 
II—NATIONAL 
COMMIS-
SION 
ON 
THE 
FEDERAL
DEATH PENALTY
SEC. 201. ESTABLISHMENT OF COMMISSION.
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established a com-
mission to be known asthe Commission on the Federal
Death Penalty (in this title referred to as the ‘‘Commis-
sion’’).
(b) MEMBERSHIP.—
(1) APPOINTMENT.—Members of the Commis-
sion shall be appointed by the President in consulta-
tion with the Attorney General and the Chairmen
and Ranking Members of the Committees on the Ju-
diciary of the House of Representatives and the Sen-
ate.
(2) COMPOSITION.—The Commission shall be
composed of 15 members, of whom—
(A) 3 members shall be Federal prosecu-
tors;
(B) 3 members shall be attorneys experi-
enced in capital defense;
(C) 2 members shall be current or former
Federal judges;
(D) 2 members shall be current or former
Federal law enforcement officials; and
(E) 5 members shall be individuals from
the public or private sector who have knowledge
or expertise, whether by experience or training,
in matters to be studied by the Commission,
which may include—
(i) officers or employees of the Fed-
eral Government or State or local govern-
ments;
(ii) members of academia, nonprofit
organizations, the religious community, or
industry; and
(iii) other interested individuals.
(3) BALANCED VIEWPOINTS.—In appointing the
members of the Commission, the President shall, to
the maximum extent practicable, ensure that the
membership of the Commission is fairly balanced
with respect to the opinions of the members of the
Commission regarding support for or opposition to
the use of the death penalty.
(4) DATE.—The appointments of the initial
members of the Commission shall be made not later
than 30 days after the date of enactment of this
Act.
(c) PERIOD OF APPOINTMENT; VACANCIES.—Mem-
bers shall be appointed for the life of the Commission. Any
vacancy in the Commission shall not affect its powers, but
shall be filled in the same manner as the original appoint-
ment.
(d) INITIAL MEETING.—Not later than 30 days after
all initial members of the Commission have been ap-
pointed, the Commission shall hold its first meeting.
(e) MEETINGS.—The Commission shall meet at the
call of the Chairperson.
(f) QUORUM.—A majority of the members of the
Commission shall constitute a quorum for conducting
business, but a lesser number of members may hold hear-
ings.
(g) CHAIR.—The President shall designate 1 member
appointed under subsection (a) to serve as the Chair of
the Commission.
(h) RULES
AND PROCEDURES.—The Commission
shall adopt rules and procedures to govern its proceedings.
SEC. 202. DUTIES OF THE COMMISSION.
(a) STUDY.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall con-
duct a thorough study of all matters relating to the
administration of the death penalty to determine
whether it comports with constitutional principles
and requirements of fairness, justice, equality, and
due process.
(2) MATTERS STUDIED.—The matters studied
by the Commission shall include the following:
(A) Racial disparities in capital charging,
prosecuting, and sentencing decisions.
(B) Disproportionality in capital charging,
prosecuting, and sentencing decisions based on
geographic location and income status of de-
fendant or any other factor resulting in such
disproportionality.
(C) Adequacy of representation of capital
defendants, including consideration of the ABA
‘‘Guidelines for the Appointment and Perform-
ance of Counsel in Death Penalty Cases’’
(adopted February 1989) and Association poli-
cies intended to encourage competency of coun-
sel in capital cases (adopted February 1979,
February 1988, February 1990, and August
1996).
(D) Whether innocent persons have been
sentenced to death and the reasons these
wrongful convictions have occurred.
(E) Whether the Federal government
should seek the death penalty in a State with
no death penalty.
(F) Whether courts are adequatly exer-
cising independent judgment on the merits of
constitutional claims in State post-conviction
and Federal habeas corpus proceedings.
(G) Whether mentally retarded persons
and persons who are under the age of 18 at the
time of their offenses should be sentenced to
death after conviction of death-eligible offenses.
(H) Procedures to ensure that persons sen-
tenced to death have access to forensic evidence
and modern testing of such evidence, in cluding
DNA testing, when such testing could result in
new evidence of innocence.
(I) Any other law or procedure to ensure
that death penalty cases are administered fairly
and impartially, in accordance with the Con-
stitution.
(b) GUIDELINES AND PROCEDURES.—
(1) IN
GENERAL.—Based on the study con-
ducted pursuant to subsection (a), the Commission
shall establish guidelines and procedures for the ad-
ministration of the Federal death penalty consistent
with paragraph (2).
(2) INTENT
OF
GUIDELINES
AND
PROCE-
DURES.—The guidelines and procedures required by
this subsection shall—
(A) ensure that the death penalty cases are
administered fairly and impartially, in accord-
ance with due process;
(B) minimize the risk that innocent per-
sons may be executed; and
(C) ensure that the death penalty is not
administered in a racially discriminatory man-
ner.
(c) REPORT.—
(1) PRELIMINARY REPORT.—Not later than 1
year after the date of enactment of this Act, the
Commission shall submit to the President, the Attor-
ney General, and the Congress a preliminary report,
which shall contain a preliminary statement of find-
ings and conclusions.
(2) FINAL REPORT.—Not later than 2 years
after the date of enactment of this Act, the Commis-