Brad Carson on Crime Former Democratic Rep (OK-2); 2004 former Senate challenger

More funding for COPS on the streets

Carson sponsored H.R.4276: The Rural Safety and Law Enforcement Improvement Act - Amends the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to:
1. authorize the Attorney General to make grants to rural local and tribal governments for the retention for one additional year of police officers funded through the cops on the beat (or COPS) program;
2. authorize the use of COPS grants on a matching funds basis to assist the police departments of such units in improving police communications, and in developing and improving access to crime-solving technologies; and
3. hire personnel and purchase equipment for rural areas to assist in the enforcement and prosecution of methamphetamine offenses and the environmental cleanup of methamphetamine-affected areas.
4. Establishes a Rural Policing Institute as part of the Small Town and Rural Training Program.

Require DNA testing for all federal executions.

Title: To reduce the risk that innocent persons may be executed.

Summary: Authorizes a person convicted of a Federal crime to apply for DNA testing to support a claim that the person did not commit:
1. the Federal crime of which the person was convicted; or

2. any other offense that a sentencing authority may have relied upon when it sentenced the person with respect to such crime.

3. Prohibits a State from denying an application for DNA testing made by a prisoner in State custody who is under sentence of death if specified conditions apply.

4. Provides grants to prosecutors for DNA testing programs.

5. Establishes the National Commission on Capital Representation.

6. Withholds funds from States not complying with standards for capital representation.

7. Provides for capital defense incentive grants and resource grants.

8. Increases compensation in Federal cases, and sets forth provisions regarding compensation in State cases, where an individual is unjustly sentenced to death.

9. Adds a certification requirement in Federal death penalty prosecutions.

10. Expresses the sense of Congress regarding the execution of juvenile offenders and the mentally retarded.