mr. chairman , i yield myself such time as i may consume . 
mr. chairman , this amendment would eliminate the expansion of the federal death penalty jurisdiction on the basis of any portion of the salary of a state or local official being covered with federal funds . 
that means they could be eligible for a federal death penalty . 
the notion that the federal government has to replace the states and localities in murder prosecutions against those who would murder a state judge or others associated with a judge or courts is absurd . 
states have shown themselves quite capable of prosecuting murder cases and in obtaining death penalties where applicable . 
they have done far more of it , frankly , than the federal government , so there is no indication that this raw extension of federal power is necessary or even desired . 
if a state has chosen to represent the will of its citizens by not authorizing a death penalty , why should congress step in and impose it in spite of the state 's public policy choice ? 
the states certainly have not asked that we add a federal death penalty to apply to the murder of federally funded state or local officials . 
and there is no evidence that the kind of people who would kill or plot to kill a state court judge or other officials may be deterred by a federal death penalty . 
the public is clearly rethinking the appropriateness of the death penalty , in general , due to the evidence that it is ineffective in deterring crime , that it is racially discriminatory , and found more often than not to be erroneously applied . 
a 23-year comprehensive study of the death penalty found that the death penalty had been erroneously applied 68 percent of the time . 
so it is not surprising that over 120 people sentenced to death over the last 10 years have been released from death row , having been completely exonerated of the crimes for which they are convicted or otherwise found to be not guilty . 
nor is it surprising that with such a sorry record of death penalty administration , that several states have abolished the death penalty or placed moratoriums on the applications of their death penalty while studies are being conducted , and why some , while they have it on the books , have not applied it in many years . 
in recognition of the problems states and localities were having with administering the death penalty , congress adopted the innocence protection act just a few years ago . 
it provides funding to state and local entities to help ensure that there is competent counsel at all parts of the trial . 
mr. chairman , during committee deliberations of the death penalty , we heard references to econometric research of economist joanna m. shepherd . 
i want to point out , more recently , she has done further analysis in elaboration of her research and found , in terms of deterring murders , executions deter murders in six states , have no effect on murders in eight states , and increased murders in 13 states . 
mr. chairman , despite the fact that the death penalty is arbitrarily applied , it is discriminatory and we make mistakes , i would hope that we would delete the death penalty from this bill by adopting the amendment . 
mr. chairman , i yield back the balance of my time . 
