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Congress' New Terror Bill Adds 23 Death Penalty Offenses

By Jeralyn, Section Legislation
Posted on Tue Sep 28, 2004 at 08:38:43 AM EST
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Yesterday we wrote about the new anti-terror bill being pushed through Congress by Republicans anxious to get it passed and signed into law by Bush before Nov. 2. Here's more--go grab your Pepto Dismal, you'll need it:

S. 2679 contains the largest expansion of federal powers since the USA PATRIOT Act, with the most serious consequences for civil liberties, that have been proposed since the demise of the much-maligned "Domestic Security Enhancement Act," also called "Patriot Act II." While the Domestic Security Enhancement Act provoked a firestorm of criticism and never proceeded beyond the drafting stage, a number of its contentious provisions have been given new life in S. 2679.

Check out Section 110 of the bill.

Section 110's expansion of the federal death penalty would be drastic. In addition to creating twenty-three separate new death penalties in one stroke, section 110 also creates an unprecedented "catch-all" death penalty for any federal crime, or any attempt or conspiracy to commit such a crime, that meets the PATRIOT Act's overbroad definition of terrorism.

First, the bill makes all of the forty-three "Federal crimes of terrorism" listed at 18 U.S.C. 2332b(g)(5) death-eligible offenses; currently, twenty of these crimes are potentially capital offenses. The attached chart [scroll down] lays out current penalties for all of these crimes, showing which federal crimes would be made death-eligible by this provision of the bill.

...This "catch-all" death penalty provision would not only dramatically increase the number of federal capital offenses, but would seriously exacerbate the already considerable chilling effect of the USA PATRIOT Act's "domestic terrorism" definition on political protest groups that use tactics of civil disobedience. This provision would also exacerbate the already serious civil liberties problems of the definition of international terrorism and of the similar definition of domestic terrorism enacted by the USA PATRIOT Act.

[hat tip to Rev. George W. Brooks, J.D., Director of Advocacy
Kolbe House,Chicago, Il.]

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