The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“THIN BLUE LINE ACT” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Justice was published in the Extensions of Remarks section on pages E697-E698 on May 23, 2017.
The Department is one of the oldest in the US, focused primarily on law enforcement and the federal prison system. Downsizing the Federal Government, a project aimed at lowering taxes and boosting federal efficiency, detailed wasteful expenses such as $16 muffins at conferences and board meetings.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
THIN BLUE LINE ACT
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speech of
HON. SUZANNE BONAMICI
of oregon
in the house of representatives
Thursday, May 18, 2017
Ms. BONAMICI. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in opposition to H.R. 115, the Thin Blue Line Act. This bill unnecessarily expands the federal death penalty, and does not further the laudable goal of bringing justice to the law enforcement officers who make the ultimate sacrifice for our safety and security.
The United States is in the minority of countries that still use the death penalty, and Americans' opposition to it has increased in recent decades, particularly as social scientists better understand the disparate effects of the death penalty on minority populations. A sentence of death is disproportionately used in cases involving defendants of color. According to U.S. Department of Justice, in 2011, 41.7 percent of all death row inmates were African American, despite only making up 13.1 percent of the population. Furthermore, since 1973, 159 people who were sentenced to death were later exonerated. There is no doubt that innocent individuals have been put to death in the United States--a fact that must not be ignored in a country that values justice under the law.
I greatly respect and appreciate our law enforcement community. Local police, firefighters, and first responders put their lives on the line every single day to protect people in Oregon and across the country. Those criminals who target and murder police officers have no place in our society. Nothing in current law prevents those individuals from being prosecuted to the highest extent of the law, and to receive a sentence of death. Under current law, there are 16 aggravating factors that can be considered during criminal sentencing, and the federal government can allege the targeting or killing of a law enforcement officer--federal, state, or local--as an aggravating factor when considering the death penalty. This bill creates a 17th aggravating factor that is duplicative of existing law.
I will continue to do all I can to support our law enforcement officers, particularly the admirable men and women who serve our communities in northwest Oregon. This bill, however, is an unnecessary expansion of the death penalty, and I therefore cannot support it.
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