Congressional Input
In 2011, Representative Dennis Kucinich introduced a bill to Congress to repeal use of the death penalty in punishing "Immigration and Nationality Act, the federal criminal code, the
Controlled Substances Act, and other statutes relating to aircraft
hijacking, espionage and treason, and offenses punished under the
Uniform Code of Military Justice". This bill was sent to committee and died there.
In 2013, Senator Rand Paul proposed "a bill to amend title 18, United States Code, to prevent unjust and irrational criminal punishments". This bill was sent to committee on March 20 2013, and, according to www.govtrack.us, has a 19% chance of making it past committee and a 4% chance of being enacted as federal law.
Judging from the the fates of these two bills, it seems that capital punishment is not big on the congressional agenda. This could be a result of the combination of capital punishment not being a huge target on President Obama's to-do list (thus removing it from the Democratic Senate's to-do list) and the House being under Republican control, support of the death penalty being a traditionally conservative viewpoint.
In 2013, Senator Rand Paul proposed "a bill to amend title 18, United States Code, to prevent unjust and irrational criminal punishments". This bill was sent to committee on March 20 2013, and, according to www.govtrack.us, has a 19% chance of making it past committee and a 4% chance of being enacted as federal law.
Judging from the the fates of these two bills, it seems that capital punishment is not big on the congressional agenda. This could be a result of the combination of capital punishment not being a huge target on President Obama's to-do list (thus removing it from the Democratic Senate's to-do list) and the House being under Republican control, support of the death penalty being a traditionally conservative viewpoint.
Sources
- http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/