more work to do is to utter a profound understatement. it is to simply note that it's so clear across this country. we have to continue work, work to go rebuild this trust between law enforcement and the communities that we are so honored to serve. and we also have to work to guaranty equal justice under the law so the perception of justice matches the reality and we have to continue to build the safer, the more perfect union that remains our common goal and i am tremendously proud to stand with noble today and every day to help advance that mission to support that cause and to stand with you to realize this promise together. and as part of that, i could not be more honored to introduce to you someone who truly needs no introduction, a friend, a worker, someone who is putting shoulder on all of these issues

for years, pursuit of justice his life. attorney general eric holder. [applause] >> he is your friend, he is your colleague. today he is your award recipient. he came to the department of justice as a 25-year-old law school graduate, focused on ensuring that public officials met their responsibilities to the american people. and he has never stopped in that goal and over the course of what has truly been an extraordinary career as a u.s. attorney, as a judge, as a deputy attorney general and as the attorney general of these united states, he has advanced fundamental believes that have animated him from the beginning that animate

this noble gathering and animate law enforcement as its best, that every individual deserves equality, every individual deserves respect and that every individual, every individual no matter where they're from, no matter what you look like, no matter where you're born, every individual deserves enjoys the full blessings of american life and throughout tenure as attorney general eric holder demonstrated this commitment. he lives this, he walked this every day, every single day not just with words but with his actions. he has helped to advance the dignity and the equality of lgbt sisters and brothers and their families. he has defended our most fundamental rights including the right to vote. he has held that so dear and we know that's increasingly being attacked particularly for

communities of color. he has worked to resolve generation's old disputes in indian country living obligations to original americans, he has acted divisively to reform system with war on crime initiative. he has transform it had way in which we dispense justice in this country. that is no small task. and he has always, always toiled to rebuild the trust between law enforcement and the communities that we serve through every part of his career and in every day of his tenure as attorney general. we know that these actions weren't always easy to take because the best things often aren't. the most important things are never easy. he faced opposition, he faced hostility. but he recognized, he knew in his bones that as public

servants it's our responsibility to approach the difficult issues with the fierce urgency that they deserve because he understood as all of us in this room do that staying in place and doing nothing will only erode the progress that so many have fought to achieve. i remember his lessons every day that i walk into the office of the attorney general and i strive to live up to them but most importantly that we cannot burden future generations with the results of our lost time, and the time to act is now, we must build a foundation of progress that gives those that are going to come behind us a chance to stale heights that we never thought we could reach and we have have to strive every day to push our best efforts forward to the work that remains at hand. now, that's the idea that defines this organization.

the work that will live beyond us to make this country a better place, it's the idea that's defined eric holder's entire career, it's the principle that guides us today. i believe it's your theme, justice by action, justice by action then, now and tomorrow. my friends, the word honorable is just a title, until it's inhabited by someone who lives it every day, someone whose moral come-- encompasses and in order to shield those who are working to advance the goals of justice inequalitiy, someone like our award recipient, you could not have graced this award with a better or more inspirational name, you could

not have found a more deserving or more inspirational figure to lead it today. and now, my friends, it is my great honor, it's my privilege to introduce to you my predecessor, my colleague, and my friend the 82nd attorney general of the united states, the honorable eric h. holder. [applause] [inaudible conversations] >> thank you.

>> well, good morning. we live in troubled times set by violence directed at those who are sworn to protect us, necessary community law enforcement, relations that are frayed and subject to rhetoric that is too often overheated and factually inaccurate. too many people are retreat to go ideological corners and fail to go meaningfully engage with one another on some of the pressing issues of the day.

demagogues have been given unnecessary attention and also political opportunity. now, let me raise just a few unassailable truths. police officers are -- must be protected at all cost. when there was a spike in officer-related shootings a few years ago, programs were put in place that dramatic released those deaths. it is not enough to praise law enforcement after cops all killed. we must value them and equip them with all the necessary tools and tactics while they are still alive and when a police officer -- [applause] >> police officers called in the

-- killed in the line of duties the harshest punishment must be meeted -- out. as a nation we must ask ourselves why those who comprise the sin blue line, weapons that are intended for combat situations, we have recently seen too frequently officer deaths connect today evil perpetrators in position of assault rifles. it is time, it is far past time for those of you in law enforcement to join with other responsible americans and take on the mindless industry-driven gun lobby that values an individual ability to possess military grade weapons more than the lives of the american people in general than our law

enforcement personnel in particular. speak up. [applause] >> we must also come to realize that keeping our officers safe is not inconsistent with ensuring to those in law enforcement to the people that are sworn to serve with dignity, respect and fairness. there's simply no tension between those two goals. we are not being honest with ourselves if we ignore a pass where too many, too many communities suffered through unfair treatment at the hands of a few in law enforcement. that history has bread distrust and coupled with recent technological advances and incidents of misconduct long complained of is not hard to understand why that exist between communities of color or in most need of effective law enforcement when those were sworn to protect these same

communities. going forward, we must fossor not only open, often times painful dialogue between the groups but also develop concrete measures to bring together law enforcement and the neighborhoods in which they work . now, this is not politically correct but it will make both communities and the officers in them safer. noble with roots in both communities has, i believe, a unique perspective and a special responsibility. you must lead with others not to go. you must speak out with others are comfortably silent. you must take on those forces more concerned with ideological respectives and the welfare of people you serve and serve with. you must be following to reach short-term unpopularity

popularity that over time history will judge you to be right. [applause] >> this would not be easy but in its 40-year history noble has been the conscious of law enforcement. now more than ever it's time for you to take on that role once again confronting truth is often times a difficult endeavor but obscuring reality serves no one well. i'm greatly honor to receive award that bears my name. i hope that in the years coming it will be bestowed upon men and women who are not afraid to speak truth to power and help to

craft solutions to new problems they are forced to confront and old issues that have bedeviled us as nation for centuries. never forget, positive change, though, possible is not promised. it is the result of hard work, sacrifice and endurance in the face of failure. i'm confident that noble as it always had helped lead our country toward a future that's infused with the change that we have longed for so long as a nation. i want to thank you all once again. [applause]

[inaudible conversations] >> we are going to do what we do. we adjust. let me take you back to the national anthem that was sung by chief of police gregory thomas, excuse me gregory harris. [laughter] [applause] >> chief of police of the north carolina school of arts north

carolina, lift every voice. [applause] >> i suppose you want to know who all of these folks are. let me introduce our guests this morning to you. starting to my far right, gerald nelson, national vice president. [applause] >> cj davis, national sergeant at arms. [applause] >> if you would hoild your applause, it'll go a lot quicker. william harris, national chaplain. clarence the third.

roderick johnson assistant to the cabinet. gregory a. thomas, our national president. dwayne crawford, executive director, noble national office. human-- hubert bell. matthew r. rosa, chief of police, u.s. capitol police department. maria bryant, national vice president. patrick, region 3, national vice president. gregory c. baker region 4 national vice president.

frederick thomas region 5 national vice president. cheryl, region 6 national vice president. let's give the folks a round of applause. [applause] >> thomas lee nelson recording secretary also washington, d.c. chapter president. charles e fonseca, malita gun, special assistant, jones, melory

jackson, major general ac rooper, united states army. jeffrey s., director of the united states national central bureau interfold. guy j., chief postal respecter, unites postal respecter. thomas e. randon, deputy director of tobacco, firearm and explosives. sofia d. jones assistant administrator, transportation security administration office of inspections. phil miller executive assistance

director. mark, deputy director, naval criminal investigation service. kathleen, inspector general, department of education. gail stone acting inspector general, social security administration, office of inspector general. h.dagnus daniels. jacob -- gentleman >> excuse me, assistant commission of police, nigerian police force. police police.

>> roderick a.allison, director of federal marshals. anthony m. chapa, executive director hispanic american police command association. paul who is the third vice president, international association of chiefs of police, marciam. manning. w. craig heartly, jr., executive director accreditation for law enforcement agencies. gil, commissioner, u.s. customs and border protection. patricia f, assistant commissioner.

marcus hill, assistant director. u.s. department of homeland security. tracy s. perry, director of u.s. department of agriculture for service. jeffrey d., executive director air force office special investigations. gene, commander, service -- service police montreal, canada and treasurer of the montreal chapter. craig w., president and ceo national law enforcement officers fund. ladies and gentlemen -- [applause] >> again, good morning. your current national president

gregory thomas. [applause] >> these are the best of times and the worst of times. these are the best of times and the worst of times. these are the best of times in major cities across the country are experiencing rapid growth with crime and unemployment trending downward. these are the worst of times that some areas across the country are experiencing stagnation in growth while violent crime numbers and associate despair are fairly increasing with the relationship with between the community and law enforcement expanding. good morning, again, noble. my opening quote comes from the classic 1959 novel by charles

dick ins. it was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, the age of foolishness, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, the spring of hope and the winter of despair. we had everything before us, we had nothing for us. we are are all going direct to heaven, we are all going direct the other way. as we are here in washington, d.c. celebrating our 40th anniversary we are in the mist of best of times and the worst of times. during these moments the country needs to push forward and ensure that there are less incidents like those that we have experienced in the past few days, weeks and months. we have to step up collectively, law enforcement and community

that we serve to bridge this ever-expanding gulf. as we continue to go through the pain of processing -- going through processing these events that happened recently, we need to look within ourselves to know that the opportunity for reform lies within both law enforcement and the communities we serve. on the law enforcement side, police officers must take a personal gut check and ask themselves, is this the right job for me and how do i invest inherent biases, can i fully serve the community with impartiality and also ask yourselves what is the role of law enforcement, guardian or warrior. we must ensure that we are selecting and hiring the right people administering penalty when needed and more important i will providing support and

always providing guidance throughout an officer's entire career. on the community side, we need to be open for the development of safety partnerships and the need to tamp down rhetoric with violence directed at members of law enforcement. and no matter where we stand in the chain of command of agencies, while we all know and valued by the vast majority of citizens as an industry, we have to acknowledge and recognize the pain agony and despair that some, emphasize some, not all of our brothers and sisters have caused with some minority communities. if we do this, we can move closer to reconciliation. when we do this, we can have a candid productive conversation about healing. let me just add here as you may have heard i was invited to the white house a week or so ago with nine other members of law

enforcement agencies representing law enforcement in the country and summon there by vice president biden as we sat there getting for a meeting with vice president biden the door suddenly open, and i do mean suddenly walked in president obama and went around the room for thoughts of solutions, i just said then what i say -- i said now what i said then that we as an industry own this one, it's an issue but us, we have to step forward and be leaders and recognize the pain that people are experiencing around the country regarding the way they've been treated by some members of law enforcement. without doing that, they'll be no reconciliation. so it's critical -- [applause] >> it's critical as you heard the words of attorney general lynch and attorney general

holder we spoke about this before we joined the stage about the need for us would to be who we are and acknowledge the pain that's been caused in our community in particular. what is really happening, people are being heard but not listened to. so as we come together as a noble family and let me just stop there also as ever expanding noble family you heard introductions by first vice president who is on the stage here and i want to acknowledge two people, we have a new chapter in montreal which board currently signed through charter late last year and also this past friday we've also signed a charter for a chapter in jamaica so we are expanding internationally as well. [applause]

>> so as you come together, let us do so with the goal of being those who are prepared to stand in the current gap between law enforcement and the communities that we serve. we know that there were times in the bible where the law called on and looked for someone to stand in the gap, well, let us take on that task in a very duetable manner and be the leaders that we know we are and need to be because to do so will be us being true to what is noble then, what is noble now and noble tomorrow. thank you. [applause]

>> okay, again we are still being exflbl here and i know it's my time to introduce -- i apologize, according to to the program we now need to welcome the youth -- my apologizes. we are now introducing the chief of police from capitol police here in washington, d.c. please come to the podium, sir, to say a few words, thank you so much. [applause] >> president thomas and distinguished guests thank you for the opportunity and welcome to the executive board, its members and distinguishes guest

that are participating in the nation's capitol, it's an honor to be here and i appreciate noble's role to help mentor today's law enforcement officials, some who may become executive leaders in law enforcement who will affect positive change and bring communities together. noble's mission to ensure equity in the administration of justice and administration of public service to all communities and to serve as the conscious of law enforcement by being to justice by action is exactly what's needed today. ..

that police at all times should maintain our relationship with the public that gives reality to the historic tradition that police are the public, that the public are the police your. [applause] >> the police being only members of the public who are paid to get full time and attention to duties which are incumbent on every citizen in the interest of community welfare. if the police do not secure the will and cooperation of the public they serve in complying with the law, they have lost the public's respect your does this sound familiar? it has both cities are law-enforcement are in crisis. we of law enforcement professionals need address these issues straight on, in dialogue and in cooperation with community leaders.

we only serve the public if the public allows accept the rule of law. when the police act outside the law or procedure act outside the law, they erode the public confidence and make policing difficult in nearly impossible. it becomes an us versus them relationship. we are part of the public and law enforcement can never forget that. leaders and members of the noble and other outstanding police organizations can help restore the confidence of policing and can help heal communities that have experienced divisiveness and a people. you the members can affect to change, positive institutional change in the nation's police departments. through leadership, education, mentoring future executives, training as well as the recruitment of outstanding youth to join the ranks of the police departments, change can be

achieved. that happens through dialogue, through community policing, through achieving a place where once again in which the police are the public and the public are the police. u.s. capitol police at i personally am proud to support noble in that mission. in fact, i've chosen some of my best leaders to attend this conference. so thank you for allowing -- [applause] >> thank you for allowing me a few minutes to briefly touch on these topics, and i have enjoyed the presentation so far and i really appreciate the opportunity to speak today. thank you, sir. [applause] >> i need to offer you an apology, chief. i didn't say her name because the truth be told i have my

classes -- i did not my classes with me. so chief verderosa, thank you. i apologize for not doing that properly. thank you. [applause] >> but i do have been down. it's my pleasure to introduce to you this morning's keynote speaker, mr. broderick johnson, assistant to the president and cabinet secretary, and chair of the my brothers keepers task force. mr. johnson in that capacity has also held other positions in the public and private sectors, senior advisor to president obama during his campaign in 2012 and in a former adviser to the obama presidential campaign in 2008 and was a senior congressional affairs adviser to the kerry campaign in 2004. during the clinton administration he served as deputy assistant to the president of the legislative affairs and he started his career in the house of representatives during a time

where he drafted landmark legislative including the family and medical leave act and immigration reform and control act of 1986. he later served as chief counsel to the house committee for the district of columbia, it has the chief counsel to the house committee on education and the workforce. he received his baccalaureate from the college of holy cross and his juris doctorate from university of michigan where he lectured on public policy and government relations. a native of baltimore, maryland, he currently resides in washington, d.c. with his wife and three children. before entering into the podium let me say one of the best things i found serving in this role as national press is not a time you get invited to the white house. what is scary is when you get invited to the white house when you didn't tell them you're in washington, d.c. and they tracked you down. scary, scary. that happened this past fall where we for the congressional black caucus.

we were together and we got a call from probably chair, senior advisor to the present saying she knew we were in town and to become to the white house to meet and discuss issues related to youth in particular the it was ther there i met mr. johnson his role as chair of the my brothers keeper initiative. from then on it's been a discussion, a deep one about how noble can join with the white house, its emissions. let's give a noble round of applause for mr. broderick johnson. [applause] >> good morning. let me start first by thank you, resident thomas, for that very kind introduction. and thank you, noble, for 40 years of serving as the conscience of law enforcement by

being committed to justice by action. as a note of personal privilege i also want to thank noble so very much for awarding me the silver by to justice by action youth award yesterday. i am so grateful and so humbled by that recognition, so thank you very much. [applause] >> it is always great to be with the extraordinary attorney general, loretta lynch. and congratulations to my dear friend of many years from our former attorney general eric holder for the incredibly fitting honor that you all just recognized him for. just think about it, just reflect on these two extraordinary and honorable lawyers that this president chose to be his attorneys general. people of great leadership and

courage, commitment, compassion, just like the president and first lady of these united states. [applause] wilwill so it is a true privilee to be a today and bring greetings in sincere gratitude on behalf of the 44th president of the united states, barack obama. it goes without saying that these have been challenging weeks and painful weeks for our american family and certainly for law enforcement. times that are shaken as to our core, weeks when some individuals filled with hatred have done terrible things to try to care this country apart. but we've also seen weeks where we have come together to mourn and together to commit to take action. i know the noble family was gathered here for the civil rights brunch yesterday when the nation heard the shocking news from baton rouge about the loss of your brother's. the loss of three brave officers

who put their lives on the line to serve and protect their community. brave souls who ran toward danger rather than from it. we pray for their families and for those who were injured yesterday. as the president said in his address to the nation yesterday afternoon, quote, regardless of motive, the death of these three brave officers underscore the danger that police across the country confront every single day. and we as a nation have to be clear that nothing justifies violence against law enforcement. attacks on police are an attack on all of us. the rule of law that makes society possible. but as a bystander today in front of all of you in this esteemed room i'm also reminded of the president's words from this year's medal of valor ceremony at the white house. the president said, quote, the men and women who run toward danger remind us with your courage and your humility what

the highest form of citizenship looks like. when you see students and commuters and shoppers at risk, you don't see the civilians as strangers. you see them as part of your own family, your own community. the scripture teaches us you love your neighbor as yourself, and to put others safety before your own. your proud example of public service, you remind us that loving our country means loving one another, closed quote. you all show that love every day in your service and your sacrifice, but then you go above and beyond by serving tens of thousands of youth through education programs every year. we so deeply appreciate your new commitment to the my brothers keeper initiative, designed to keep boys and young men of color and other global youth, education and program resources aimed at improving the

relationships with law enforcement through your law and your community program. thank you so much for that commitment to my brothers keeper. we applaud that commitment. [applause] and that commitment joined alongside your support for the president's task force on 21st century policing. you've been alongside us in our communities during some of the toughest moments i can aftermath of ferguson. you all in body what it means to be servant leaders, and for that we are forever grateful. in addition to serving as the second of the president's cabinet, it's also my great privilege to serve as the chair of is my brothers keepers task for while the course of the president's domestic policy agenda has been about expanding opportunities, indicating that in the wake of the tragic killing of trayvon martin. following the tragedy and the subsequent trial, the president

spoke candidly to the nation when he said trayvon martin could have been his son. 35 years ago trayvon martin could have been him. president went on to say that a lot of kids out there who need help, and were getting a lot of negative reinforcement. and final he says that has to be more than we can do to give them the sense that this country cares about them and values them and is willing to invest in them. as you all know the challenges of the disparities that and young men of color face are significant, ma and they start in the early days that follow them throughout their lives. some of these statistics don't want it to black boyce have no fathers at home. one in four latinos. by age three children from low income households have heard roughly 30 million fewer words than their higher income here's. by age three.

of latin american students represent 60% of the public school population they make up 42% of those suspected more than once a 34% of students expelled. many of those children are are preschoolers, free and for your suspended and expelled from preschool your isn't that startling? they are like little people about this tall. we can do better. a high school graduation rate in america is now 82% but many districts see 50% graduation rates or worse. little voice of color. finally, while only 6% of the overall population black males account for nearly half of the nation's murder victims. among young adults age 10-24 homicide is a leading cause of death for black males and also among the leading causes of death for hispanics but we can do better. so in february 2014 the

president launched the my brothers keeper initiative from the east room of the white house. and it was designed to address the persistent opportunity gap, some which i just decided so we can assure that all young people in this nation can reach their full potential. mbk s. not about a single solution. it's about supporting our children at every key stage in their development, from cradle to college and career and, indeed, providing second chances. in response to the president's call to action to years ago, nearly 250 communities in all 50 states and in addition to of cologne and puerto rico have accepted the president's my brothers keeper community challenge. nearly 250 communities. more than $600 billion in private sector at the drop grants and in kind resources, and $1 billion in low interest

financing have been committed in alignment with mbk, but we can do better. a new federal policy initiatives and grants programs have been implemented to ensure again that every child has a clear pathway to success from cradle to college and career into second chances. indicate communities have brought together diverse community leaders are executing bold plans of action to reduce inequities and to expand opportunity, including reducing violence and providing second chances. often that work includes partnerships and conversations between youth and law enforcement. for example, in the city of boston, boston has expanded its violence interrupt this program in coordination with the boston police department to provide an increase on the ground outreach to youth at risk of violent crime. in detroit, they have partnered with the chief of police to

launch the teamed up program, initiative that match a police officers who serve as mentors with baseball and softball teams. nearly 2000 youth are displayed in detroit summer youth employment program are paired with law enforcement officials. the are a thousand youth in that program, 2000 are paired with law enforcement officials. philadelphia's police schools diversion program has led to a 54% reduction in school-based arrests. the providence individual into juvenile justice systems, fiscal diversion program offers the youth and their parents and their caregivers a range of social services and counseling. but we need to scale up that work so that's what we are especially grateful and thank noble for the mbk announcement that they will work with us to see this work take place in more communities across the country to bring together young men and

young women of color with law enforcement. so again we are so deeply grateful for your commitment so we can expand this work. [applause] indicates is not about just dealing with issues -- mbk does not about issues about forms our discussions while those are important but is making sure we take action, that we come together, we are honest about the challenges that we face but that we are committed to work with each other, to do the hard work, to restore and rebuild trust. doing the hard work of making sure all of our children no matter who they are over the come from having equal opportunity and nothing stand in the way of them achieving their dreams. it's about young people realizing that they should become law enforcement officers because it is such an incredibly honorable profession. before i stepped off the stage

of the president asked i share his greetings with all of you as well. the white house, washington, july 15, 2016. i am pleased to join in marking the 40th anniversary of the national organization of black law enforcement executives. our law enforcement officials put their lives on the line everyday for a cause greater than themselves. for many, this work is more than a job. it is a calling. a chance to give back to the committees in which they live and opportunity to uphold the rule of law that sustains our democracy. the hours are often long, the work is often dangerous, and the stress is often high. and yet all across our country, officials carry out their duties fairly and professionally. our nation is safer for it.

we are all part of one american family and it is our responsibility to do everything we can to lift up and support all our people, including those who serve and protect our community. for 40 years noble has been a leader in these efforts. found in the midst of increasing crime in communities of color, you have worked not a unified black voices and law-enforcement but also to mentor and educate thousands of youth through leadership development programs. my administration's task force on to first century policing has looked to leaders of noble to help address key challenges, and i'm grateful for your commitment to help communities that have accepted the my brothers keeper camcommittee challenge to strengthen relationships between youth and law enforcement. in today's work our collective efforts are more critical than ever before. as a nation we have made enormous progress in race

relations over the course of the past several decades. i've witnessed that in my own life. still, more work remains. in the face of heartache and tragedies, leaders like you remind us that there is no contradiction between supporting police officers and recognizing the racial disparities that exist in our criminal justice system. the america i know is not as divided as some try to insist. i am confident that by coming together to listen, learn and build trust with each other at forums like this, we can for the address some of the challenges that have plagued our nation for centuries. as you can being to tackle some of america's most pressing issues and work to keep our communities safe, please know that a grateful president thinks you and your families for your service and sacrifice. signed, president barack obama.

[applause] >> the final thing i would like to say is thank you on behalf of my family, for all you do to protect us. we are deeply, deeply grateful. god bless all of you, and thank you. [applause] >> broaddrick, thank you again for those words. it's also important to the organization that we continue the discussion we saw those last fall and as you'll see shortly, issuing a press release that will more fully detail the partnership between the white house, my brothers keeper and

noble because as you discuss when the topic of law enforcement engagement comes up, who else better than noble to be there to have a discussion, a discussion we're having anyway around the country's will try to coordinate outfits with my brothers keeper and vice versa. i'm not really something that membership will do. another update for us to work with resources to spread the message about law enforcement welcome aboard is the also a hidden goal is to help with recruitment to get more ambassadors that are in uniform if you will to in uniform if he will debate it has become speak a map of us when it comes down to patiently to law-enforcement so didn't think it would come together for the president and for his work in this area. we would not have it back again. i will try to move the program for the i will bring to you now the youth leadership conference representatives and then we'll come back to executive director

to close with some acknowledgment. so would you come forward, please. thank you. [applause] >> thank you. good morning, noble members and guest. my name is satchel bikini. i'm 16 and i tend st. mary's high school in maryland. standing with me -- [applause] >> standing with me is -- age 18, who along with me to serving as a noble youth ambassador for the 15th annual noble youth leadership conference.

[applause] >> i want to take this opportunity to thank noble for hosting the youth leadership conference here in washington, d.c. along with the other participants, i'm committed to being focused and look forward to being enlightened, empowered and encouraged. [applause] our intention for this youth leadership conference is to be focused and be free from distraction because we don't want to miss anything that you have for us. although we are young, we are mindful what is happening in our world today. we look forward to engaging in

robust discussions, and engaging with you guys. and we want to be an intentional part of the solution. our behalf of the youth leaders of the noble youth leadership conference, thank you, noble, for investing in the future of youth. have a great conference. [applause] [applause] >> i was appalled that preparing my speech, young man. [laughter]

young man, young man. i was up all night preparing my speech and privacy set in a mayor like at one in the morning. what are you doing? you are showing me up. [laughter] how cool was that? how cool was about, right? [applause] and he said robust. i was like, really? [laughter] duane, please. thank you. [applause] >> noble family and guests, please give yourself a round of applause. [applause] this has been an unbelievable morning i'm going to go through some of our notes, so bear with me. i'm going to start off with some keynotes. the following meetings are scheduled, department of homeland security,

10 a.m.-11 a.m. washington 4. immigration and customs enforcement 11 a.m. in washington 4. bureau of occult tobacco firearms and explosives washington 2. u.s. postal service washington 3, and u.s. marshals service washington 5 your we mentioned earlier we have fresh tweets. president thomas position in a commune executive board and having a decision to reject the white house. this will be a key initiative, part of our long year initiative program. we want to thank our president. it's a big, big deal. thanks. [applause] silent auction is open after our plenary to a will and at 2:45 p.m. however, you can pick up your items at the security desk.

don't leave your to go to host city. however, all you will need is, what, your badges. if you have your badges you can get into the host city. founders, take a moment, we want to recognize any of our founders out of here this morning. are any of our founders here this morning? please the stand and be recognized. [applause] >> thank you, triplett and chief johnny johnson. i call him mama triplett and chief johnny johnson. we are going to now ask you to

stand to retire our colors. please stand to retire our colors. please stand. [background sounds]

[background sounds] [background sounds]

>> please give our colorguard a round of applause, please. [applause] >> all of our international members, a round of applause to all of our international members. it's the largest contingent of our international members. [applause] >> please come out and give us our benediction, barbara. >> again, father, we thank you for what we have heard today. we thank you for the words. we thank you for the enlightenment. thank you for the future in the words of our youth. thank you for the blessing of the last 40 years.

thank you for the blessings today and thank you for the blessings to come in the next 40 years. we have been tested. we are being tested. we will be tested. but because of our foundation, no matter what storm comes, no matter what test we face, we will not only passed it but we will be the tories. thank you for the rest of these sessions. in your name we pray. amen. >> that concludes our session. thank you. tha[inaudible conversations]

[inaudible conversations] speed if you missed any of this event you can watch it online in the c-span video library at c-span.org. today kicks off the republican national convention that's taking place in cleveland coming to for such wil will get underld their underwear like that when ththe future. the thing to do is make america safe again. the focus on ways to strengthen the military, secure the border and support law enforcement. among the speakers today, malan the trump, senator john first and tom cotton also congressman ryan's inky among others.

live coverage on c-span. you can listen in on the c-span great app and get video on demand at c-span.org. act on c-span2 more live coverage. we had to click for an event with women in support of donald trump including congresswoman marsha blackburn and former tea party express co-chair amy kremer live at 11 a.m. eastern here on c-span2. a little bit remarks from one of today's convention speakers to arkansas senator tom cotton is being introduced today. live coverage starts at 2 p.m. eastern. it's also you on c-span2. >> the republican national convention from cleveland starts today. watch live every minute on c-span. listen live on the free c-span radio app. it's easy to download from the apple store or google play. watch live or on-demand anytime at c-span.org come on your desktop, phone or tablet where you'll find all of our

convention coverage and the full convention schedule. follow a sexy spent on twitter and like us on facebook to see video of newsworthy moment. don't miss them in a the 2016 republican national convention starting today at 1 p.m. eastern on c-span, the c-span radio app and c-span.org. >> host: larry strickling is administered of the national telecommunications and information administration within the department of commerce. what is that administration do? >> guest: ntia is the principal advisor to the president on telecommunications and information policy issues but we are also a unit of the department of commerce. our principal functions involved managing the use of spectrum by federal agencies. we have overseeing a broadband access and adoption program started with the recovery act in 2009. we are overseeing the public

safety broadband network development i firstnet and then we spent a lot of time on internet policy matters both domestic and international husband because we want to start and one of the issues is icann and whether or not it should be turned over to a group of international stakeholders. is that on track to happen in september? >> guest: in the community yes. in the sense that you to go back to 1998, 1997 for the origins of this story but back in 1997 the clinton administration decided that it felt given the choice between having the internet managed by a group of governments or managed by the private sector, the choice was let's make sure the private sector manages this. that started a process to privatize the domain name system which, of course, had been developed through contracts in the u.s. government prior to that but started this long

odyssey to get to where we could complete the privatization of the domain name system. that's what we are up to at this particular point in time. two years ago in hopes of completing the privatization we announced our intention to complete the privatization and ask the multi-stakeholder committee, and by this we're talking about the businesses, the academics, the technical experts and governments who participated in internet matters for the last however many years to come together and develop a plan to complete this transition. they took two years to do the work, exhaustive work. they spent hours in meetings. they exchanged thousands of e-mails and the rant of several million dollars of lawyers to as they examined various proposals. they delivered a proposal at the beginning of march of this year. we enter to an interagency review and evaluation of that proposal, and concluded at the beginning of june that it met the criteria we have laid out two years ago that needed to be

met in order for this transition to proceed, and that it would preserve and enhance the multi-stakeholder model of government, that it would turn the internet over to governments, that would meet the needs of customers of the various icann functions and that is what our report concluded. so we hit an important milestone in june. we are not adequate where icann is completing other implementation matters that need to be completed and they will be reporting to us in august as to whether or not they have completed that work can complete that work by what is currently the expiration date of the contract which is september 30. of course, there's been an large discussion about this that has emerged in congress. in fact, the discussion has been going on the entire two years that we've been involved in the transition planning. we have met with members of congress and met with their staffs. wwe've been up on the hill explain our report, and we're hopeful that we'll be able to

answer their concerns here over the course of the summer as we continue to watch icann complete its implementation work. >> host: as you well know as you mentioned, congress has had some concerns about this issue. >> guest: summon members have, yes. >> host: when you're the phrase we are turning the internet over to international control and how is out of u.s. controlto is that i could? >> guest: not at all. today and operates pretty much as a private company. the contract we have with icann was to designate icann to perform some very technical functions. they manage a database of what are called protocol parameters. they hand out ip numbers to the registries that allocate numbers around the world, and the update was called them root zone file which deals with the names on the internet. all that's happening is you've had this bureaucracy, the united states government, between the customers of these functions and

icann for the last 18 years, and all we are really doing this -- through this transition is along the customers, the number registries, the name to registries and registrars to now contracted directly with icann to get the services they need. it allows more accountability but that's really all that is at stake with the particular contract that would expire at the end of september. what the debate has brought into focus about our questions about the overall accountability of icann. because icann also is involved in policymaking as it relates to the names on the internet. this is in any part of our contract but this is another part of the function that icann performs. the committee wants to make sure in performing those tasks icann is accountable to these businesses and technical experts and civil society members to participate in the process. so that's been part of the transition planning as well is

to develop the plan under which icann will be more accountable to those members of the community that has infested with talk about turning over icann are turning over the internet, none of that is happening. what will happen is that the stakeholders who do they participate in these icann processes will now have an ability to exercise some direct powers over icann, if icann and its board and its employees don't perform in accordance with the will of the community. so that's really at the end of the day what's happening with the account of the improvements. but keep in mind that is independent of and separate from that contract we have with icann to perform those technical functions that is the contract that expires in september but these have been lumped together into some respects is represented in the community that some of the u.s. controlled all of this, what are we have an involvement in is this narrow little slice of the technical function. >> host: let's bring lynn

stanton into the conversation. >> what's the backup plan if icann comes to you in august and said no, we can't quite get everything done, we need to much, three months, whatever? >> guest: that's why we've asked them to report in august. because if they come to us by the stakeholder and seven comes to us and says we need more time, we need to have sufficient number of weeks to actually figure out what would be an appropriate extension of the contract. so that's baked into the schedule in terms of contingency and we will have to determine ones who didn't august weather will have to do that or not. >> there was some technical testing going on between icann and transmission of information that up until now, has it been completed questio? >> guest: that concluded this week and they did pass the test.

in other words, the new system by which icann will transmit changes to the root zone directly to verisign has not been proven to work exactly the same as the current system does. the one technical change that has to occur as part of transition has not been tested to be fully operational and implementable. >> host: does congress have the authority to stop this transmission? >> guest: i think it would have the authority to engage in this. i do want to get into the legal aspect of this. today though the contract is set to expire in september and can expire on its own terms. we have made it very clear to congress because they wanted to time to look at this and they have done that through some appropriations riders, that nothing will happen before september 30. and again we're hoping that as they become more familiar with the plan in more familiar with the analysis, that we and other

federal agencies conducted on the plan, that they will get comfortable with this. i have seen reports from some sources that we are pushing this, rushing through to get this done and it's a radical plan. none of those things are true if you actually take the time to look at what is at stake and what the community did and how we analyzed it. to say we are rushing things on policy that was established in 1997, and he we are 18, 19 years later, this doesn't bear any sort of scrutiny. this has taken a long time to get done because it has been done carefully. and, indeed, the community has taken two years to develop a plan that didn't agree to buy businesses, governments, academics, civil society. they worked tirelessly for two years to develop this plan and present it to us. i think everyone in the process he was part of the process

thinks it's now time to get this done. >> congress has asked the government accounting office to report on whether the united states has an ownership stake in the underlying sort of list of names and numbers and whatnot. if the report comes back and says that they do, the administration clearly does have the right to give away u.s. government property without congressional consent. so is there a plan in place without? >> guest: i don't know when gao will complete its work. i would be extremely surprised if they conclude that there's any government property at stake. i know how to contract work. when we contracted with i.t. to do this work, no government property was given to them. there is no government property that will be given to them at the end of his contract. our own lawyers have looked at this in great detail and concluded that there's no

property issue, so i would be extremist surprised if gao were to conclude otherwise. >> that's not real and intellectual property, bachelors of without? >> guest: it's a directory or its public. it's made available to anybody who wants to have the you can go download it today on the internet. it's not proprietary. in fact, for the internet to work it has to be widely distributed because at every point in the internet where people have to do lookups, they have to have ability to access that root zone file to figure out how matters ought to be routed on the internet. so it's totally a public open nonproprietary document. there's a way anybody is going to find that that is in and of itself property. >> once the downside if it doesn't go through in september? you said it's been on this path for a long time and you don't

understand why people are saying what story, but what is a very? what's the downside if you don't completed by september 30 or october or november? >> guest: it would depend on the reason. we are at a point now with the committee says we have done what you've asked, we done the work, here's our plan, it's a consensus plan, we all support it. it's been vetted by lawyers they hired. we hired experts to review it out and. they gave it a clean bill of health, that is, it was consistent with sound principles of corporate governance. so without reason the united states were to say well, just kidding, we don't really intend to let this end, it what end, it wouldn't think of drastic potential consequences for us internationally. the ongoing debate, this goes back to some of the earlier remarks, has been a, has been a to b. what making these decisions? to we want government making these decisions or the people who actually build, operate and transact business and exchange

information on the internet? do we want them making the decisions? the choice we made in 1997, that the clinton administration made was we want it to be the community. that is a been an ongoing debate internationally for years and there are countries out there even today still insist that the internet ought to be managed by the united nations or managed by the international telecommunications union or some other intergovernmental body. four years ago at the world conference on international telecommunications in dubai we had 89 countries who signed up for a resolution to give the itu more authority over the internet and the u.s. was on the short side of that vote. only 55 countries opposed that. so what we have seen the over the last several years is countries now coming back and signing up to support a multi-stakeholder model of governance. almost 30 countries who find the

regulations in dubai have not supported the proposal that has been presented to us. that's a great progress that we've made and we've made in part because of the u.s. governments willingness to complete this transition and it's also been done through a tremendous amount of outstanding diplomacy by folks at the state department like ambassador soboba. we risk losing all of that progress if the united states basically doesn't live up to its word and complete this transaction. we are not the only one saying this. there have been a number of papers that have come out when the plane was issued in march saying exactly the same thing. michael chertoff, former sec of homeland security, joined in a paper with the former joint vice-chairman of the joint chiefs of staff general cartwright to point out the implications to us internationally if we don't follow through on our promises in this regard. what you're doing is you're

handing a great talking point back to countries like china and russia who prefer the intergovernmental approach and giving them an opportunity to go back to these countries where we have made off with progress over the last three to four years and letting them come back and say you can't trust the united states they don't really want to give this up. we need to bring it back to the u.n. the folks that want to protect internet freedom, and i think all of us do, was he a democrat or republican, whether you're in the administration or in congress we all have that as our goal. people need to understand we might seriously hurt internet freedom if we reneged on a commitment to complete this transaction or transition and typically but now that the community is ready for it us back another what other charge of the national telecommunications and information administration is the finding of specter. how are you doing on that? >> guest: we know where it is. the issue has been how do we

continue to meet the needs of the industry, have access to more spectrum to provide more wireless broadband services to the american public. as you may recall the president back in 2010 that they call for us and the fcc to identified 500 megahertz of spectrum that could be reallocated to commercial wireless broadband use. we are about halfway through that. i think we so far have identified about 245 megahertz of that goal. we have a number of bands that were under active consideration now in terms of trying to come to a final judgment on them. hopefully yet this year. part of that is over 120 megahertz that is currently being auctioned off in the incident auctioned at the fcc at the broadcast spectrum. we are also focused very intently on spectrum in the five gigahertz band.

that has been of interest for more wi-fi use, thatort of thing. this is an ongoing effort. what allows us to make the progress we've been making has been the good government and industry collaboration that we have seen, the auction last year that delivered tens of billions of dollars of auction revenues, far more than anybody had predicted. i think was made possible by the fact that industry and government had worked closely on that before it went to auction. we've also are making progress understanding how government agencies and industry can share the spectrum in future. that's going to be i think the new paradigm. i've been saying this for you. i subclass of us on the show a few years ago. spectrum sharing is the way we have to go in the future on this just because of the growing needs of both federal agencies and industries to make maximum use of the spectrum. >> host: argued meeting resistance going to federal

departments and agencies try to get some of the spectrum that they control? >> guest: it's not resistance the budget is a set of missions that they been asked to perform. and the need for them to understand table in the sharing environment, will be equipped that they've already deployed continue to operate as it needs to operate on things like protecting air traffic systems, making sure that we're getting weather reports distributed the way they need to should around the country. these are important life-saving that measures that we need to make sure are being performed adequately, and agencies naturally have concerned that when we start introducing other transmitters into those spectrum bands that might interfere with her ability to do the work. what we have is a very thorough active process to understand the analysis and testing what are the implications, what are the effects of bringing these

different types of systems together in the same spectrum band? my feeling is we get good cooperation from the federal agencies in conducting these analyses, but all of us want to make sure they are done properly and unfairly because the worst thing that could happen is to miss something which could lead to problems down the road and we didn't anticipate. but overall we are getting excellent cooperation from the agencies through this process. >> you said he hoped the next administration would continue on the same work on spectrum. what do you think would be the outcome if they turn away from sharing and go back to trying to find exclusive use? >> guest: they will be unsuccessful. i don't think there's any turning back and i wouldn't expect there to be. the need for additional spectrum is a need that is not going away at the end of the obama administration. they will continue to be a need for every administration following on from this point forward. but i don't think there's any serious thoughts that you can do any other way other than through

sharing. i think the sooner we can get everybody fully cognizant of that and organizing their own r&d programs, facilitate that, the better off we'll be enough after will be able to work through some of these issues. >> another issue on your plate that is something of a deadline to it is a firstnet authority which is although independent is housed within ntia. it's kind of a unique agency arrangement guessing we have a precedent for anyone else in the government spent what's the progress on that? wwhen the first responders be able to use this glimmer in the eye network? >> guest: the immediate issue before firstnet is defined its strategic partner, and there in that process right now. they have put out an rfc so much ago seeking interest from request for proposal, from companies or consortia of

companies to come in and indicate how would they partner with firstnet in terms of being able to use the spectrum that was allocated to this by congress, and utilize, leverage their existing infrastructure to be able to deliver services to first responders. i think the expectation is firstnet will be able to make a selection on that before the end of the year. and from then there will be a series of intense months as they work with that partner to develop plans for each of the states asked about this network would be deployed. and each state will have an opportunity to look over the plan and decide yes, we want to sign up for firstnet, or they will have an option at the point to opt out and build their own access network, radio access network in their state as an alternative to having firstnet do it at that network will still have to be integrated into the overall firstnet core network in order to provide services on an

inter- operable bases across the country. country. >> because it would be using the same spectrum. >> guest: right. so as to when first responders would've assigned up, i think we are still a ways away from that but firstnet is making good progress and the next big milestone is finding this barter, being able to conclude a contract with a strategic partner. >> there was criticism from some stakeholders especially or were on the ntia was taking too much of a hands-on approach to the firstnet activities. do yodo you think that it's thed is it something you would do differently if you have to start all over again and do it from scratch? >> guest: i don't think it's fair that i think those comments didn't understand reality of what firstnet face. when the law was passed, it provided several pages of direction for how to pick a point, a border the board is 15 people and everything else was pretty abstract.

and so the board was selected but at that point in time clarify that no employees. it was not ongoing operations. basic system didn't exist. so yes ntia had to provide things like an accounting system, legal support, media support from all that at the outset because all you had at the beginning was the 15 board members. it took them many months before the even able to hire an executive director for the organization. so yes, firstnet had relied on ntia for just the basic survival needs during the early months. navy people didn't understand that there wasn't an ongoing organization that would be slotted into perform those tasks we had to do we had to be the author via. several years into this they have now grown. they have their own staffs to perform many of these functions at a think our role as default to one of providing more council and some oversight as required by the statute house of

representatives since he graduated from harvard law school you been working in this world, associate general counsel of the sec, chief of the common carrier bureau. you've worked for broadway communications director and you are policy coordinator for the obama, for america campaign where you look at technology issues. what could you get right in 2008 when you developing this technology are helping with the technology policy? what did you get right and what do you wish you had done different? >> guest: i can't think of anything today that we should have done differently. i think the focus out of the box was where it needed to be, which was a focus right at the start of the decision on expanding broadband access and adoption. that is so pivotal to so many issues that we have in our society, giving people access to high speed internet to be able to use it, to get better education, to find jobs, taking make it with other people.

i think i was a key focus at the outset and it was important that we did at the outset. we had the opportunity with a grant program under the recovery act to do just that. we at ntia stood up a grant program in 90 days to put $4 billion of grant money out around the country and the results of that i think have been nothing short of amazing in the sense that our grantees built over one of 15,000 miles of fiber and other high speed infrastructure. we connected tens of thousands of anchor institutions to these networks ..

given your background, what was your reaction to the house being periscope to live on national tv ? the use of that technology, what was your reaction to that? >> it was very positive. i think as new technologies are developed we need to find ways to add them and utilize and make them available to a broader set of people. i think it's been great, not just that but all the advances we have seen over the last eight years. what we need to do and i think the obama administration has done this is provide an environment in which that sort of experimentation and innovation can take place. i would hope the next administration would be equally

focused on further innovation and exploration. >> one way that you have looked at those kinds of new technologies is the number of multi-stakeholder proceedings proceedings to develop guidelines on issues like privacy with respect to drones or on-screen apps, but consumers walked out with one of those proceedings last year and were critical of what came out of a process because it was largely dominated by industry. do you think there is a future for the multi-stakeholder process? is there there a way to bring dissenting voices back in for many legs and policies that don't have by and from the consumer community really have? >> keep in mind what these

prostheses were intending to create were best practices or codes of conduct. they weren't establishing government policies in a sense of this is now the policy of and cia. we've been very careful not to impose our own judgment on these outcomes. what we have tried to do is provide an opportunity and facilitated environment for parties to come together and try to solve problems. there's no question that you get the best outcomes when you have the broadest set of interest present in the room. i was sorry to see the consumer groups leave the facial recognition projects and i think it would've been stronger if they had stayed in and participated it didn't folks stop the folks coming together from developing what is an initial set of best practices and i think were all better off having that.

we had a group who was committed and stayed at it and well something that will be worthy of coming back to, perhaps multiple times as we see this technology continue to change, i think that's important and what we been trying to demonstrate through all of our work. we don't have to solve the problem once and for all but we can make progress and get the issues discussed and parties to come together and each piece of output is another bit of progress that were making to help solve the issue. eventually has the issue becomes more concrete congress might want to legislate in the area and maybe there's an opportunity for legislation to take place but that shouldn't detract from

the progress were making. i think our work in this area has been important in showing how you can bring people together to reach consensus and we've made progress in the output from these groups, the drones, facial recognition, mobile, mobile app, i think the world is a better place having these best practices developed as opposed to simply not going forward because you didn't have everybody at the table. >> lynn stanton is a senior editor for telecommunications reports and this is the communicator. >> today kicks off the republican national convention taking place in cleveland ohio. the first session gets underway live at 1:00 p.m. eastern. the theme for today is make america safe again with ways to

strengthen the mere military, support law-enforcement and secure the border. watch live coverage on c-span. listen on the c-span radio app and get video on demand at cspan.org. here we are live in cleveland for an event for women in support of donald trump. that's live at 11 am eastern right here on c-span2. later remarks from one of today's convention speakers, tom cotten. he is being interviewed by steve clemons. that's live at 2:00 p.m. eastern on c-span2. >> the republican national convention from cleveland starts today. watch live every minute on

c-span, listen live on the free c-span radio app. watch live or on or on demand anytime at cspan.org, on your desktop, phone or tablet where you'll find all of our convention coverage in the full schedule. follow us at cspan on twitter and like us on facebook to see video of newsworthy moments. don't miss a minute of the national convention starting today at one eastern. one of the nations leading death penalty litigants and a dresser of the group right on crime set down her conversation with a former u.s. solicitor general about the decline in the death penalty and the potential for the supreme court to end the practice. this is from the aspen ideas

festival in colorado. >> okay, thank you for being here. maybe the greatest decision that we make outside of going to work is whether or not to apply the death penalty. we are here to talk about the death penalty, where it's going and i can't imagine a better group of panelists to speak. right over here is the president of the southern center for human rights. in my mind the leading death penalty litigants in the country, it has been for a number of years traveling throughout the country to bring these cases. he had a big win in the supreme court a couple weeks ago which maybe he'll tell you a little bit about. he's been teaching at yale law school since 1993.

that was my first class on the death penalty which he taught and was just him marvelous, inspirational figure. >> he's the director for the center for effective justice at the public policy center. mark does really interesting work on the cost of the criminal justice system and he's making the case for a conservative case for limits on things like mandatory minimums or over criminalization. it's a return on investment idea political named him one of the top 50 thinkers in 2014. he graduated graduated from the university of texas and clerked for a prominent judge. it's an honor to have both of you. i thought we would start off by asking what's going on with the death penalty right now in terms

of numbers? those executions that are carried out, the numbers are more striking. last year there were 28 executions that work carried out. that's three times less than what would happen in 1999 when there were 98. i'm just picking one recent year and one from the 1990s. you can go back three or five years and compare it to something in the 1990s or 80s and you'll see a similar drop, striking drop. this year there have been 14

executions in 2016. it's not just the number of executions carried out but the fact that it's only occurring in a few places. those five states have had no executions in the past five years at all. >> this year i think it's been five states who have carried out the execution. texas, florida, missouri, alabama, georgia. then we've had some states including nebraska that have outlawed the death penalty. when you think human rights, you don't necessarily think of nebraska as the vanguard of criminal justice reform. tell me what you think is going on and how these numbers can be explained. since 2000 there's been a a

market decline. we went from around 310 down to 200s and 100 and now the 70s. the numbers have just dropped like iraq every year going down significantly. what's interesting is today many people who would never get the death penalty are people who were sentenced back in the 70s and 80s. those are the people who are being executed today. we are executing an old generation of people. georgia will execute a man who is in a bar fight and he hit the man over the head with a whiskey bottle and he happened to die.

we would never sentence him to the death penalty now but he is scheduled to die in a few weeks. many states have repealed the death penalty and illinois is one of the larger states. new mexico, new jersey and new york by judicial decision. the executions that have taken place, 80% have been in the south. the one thing about the death penalty that i should say, i think it's one of the most interesting points is 2% of the counties in the country account for over half of the death penalty and executions. sixty-two counties account for half of the executions and the penalties imposed out of the 3000 counties that we have in the united states. some like paris county texas has executed 121 people. those are people sentenced to death and executed by the state of texas. that is more than any other state except texas itself. texas has executed more than

that and only two other states, virginia and oklahoma have executed over 100 people. neither of them have executed as many as harris county. it's very much a matter of a handful counties across the country. l.a. county, they don't don't get executed but they get sentenced to death. florida, there's others and it all depends on pretty much to the prosecutor is in the quality of lawyers wanting to defend people. people say how could there be that many in harris county. if you have very aggressive prosecutors who seek the death penalty in virtually every case and you assign lawyers were so incompetent that in three cases and lawyer county the defense lawyers fell asleep while they

were defending death penalty cases. you put those two together and you can sentence a lot of people to death. then you give the person and equally bad lawyer to represent them in the appellate process and you can execute people just like that. >> you are generous in your introduction. you didn't mention that 13 of the 28 executions were in texas last year. things are changing. you're absolutely right. texas isn't the leader when it comes to the number of people on death row. california has 743 but the last execution was 2006. six. that gentleman waited 23 years before he was executed. that's one of the new's of argument in cruel and unusual punishment, just waiting all that time. these individuals are almost all

waiting in solitary confinement. they're almost all place there because they got the death sentence. we actually have the texas prison guard association saying we want to and this process because it's endangering us. the reason for that as they want to take that person for the one hour a day that can leave those 36 ft.2 and they have to take them to go get them something to eat not sort of thing, there's minimal restoration, that one hour is dangerous for them because of the 23 hours that person was confined. freedom is another word for nothing less to lose. when you have someone with the death penalty what are you holding over them, absolutely nothing. it is a nightmare not only for these individuals but for those prison guards who are charged with protecting them and the other inmates. what you think it counts for the striking drop? it sounds like one thing you're isolating his representation so in harris county the representation isn't so good.

is the representation, is it getting better elsewhere in the country? our defense lawyers blocking executions otherwise would. >> i think, there is a number of people that were found innocent and that's a sobering statistic. one man was to be executed and he was on the verge of being executed for being convicted of shaking his baby to death and he's completely innocent because we've learned a lot more about that than we knew before. it appears he will not be executed. this is about as close as it gets and then there's been at least two people in texas with

an arson case and there's a great book called the wrong carlos, if you want to read it who is almost certainly innocent but was executed by the state of texas. the fusion of the innocent is one and the improvement in of the lawyers, lawyers, to states, georgia and virginia ten years ago set up capital defender offices so the people facing the death penalty were not represented with just anybody with a barcode and a pulse. it had been the standard and it still is the standard in texas, i'm sorry to say and the result has been that there hasn't been a death sentence imposed in georgia since march 2014. this this is remarkable for a state that used to send ten or 15 people to death row every year. virginia went for a five-year period with just two death sentences. it changed tremendously from having people being represented

by bad lawyers who were really just doing it for the money to being represented by lawyers for this is all they do and they know what they're doing. i can tell you that the idea that any lawyer off the street can represent somebody in a death penalty case is like saying the pilot's not there at the airport so i just fly the 727 back to atlanta myself. >> it's also an issue of resources. in texas you get $2000 to do a homicide case and the prosecutor has the whole public treasury at his disposal but the defendant's

lawyer doesn't have those resources. even if you like the death penalty from a moral perspective were caught in this trial because there's almost all these people on death row but were almost never executing people and people on the other side say speeded up and then we will potentially kill innocent people. it's become impractical. >> we have several things going on. once about exoneration and cost and moral issues. i understand several states and counties have limits on how much they will pay on a capital case. >> mississippi is only a thousand dollars total. >> the supreme court said

anybody who's a member of the bar, all kinds of criminal cases, but if you're a member of the bar this is to save money, obviously, one of your duties is to represent people in criminal cases. you go back home to be a real estate lawyer and you're doing title closings and the judge calls you and says we have a case for you. you might be a death penalty case. you'd be surprised how many people have told me their very first trial was a death penalty case. i had 70 tell me that just the other day. one lawyers very first case was representing a death penalty case. they later threw it out. when the case came back the judge appointed the same lawyer. he said well 15 years later maybe he learned something in the meantime but that's the cavalier attitude you often have about the lawyers appointed to represent people in these cases.

>> you had an article called the death penalty is not really for the worst crime but for the worst lawyer. can you give us a sense, let's assume that these death penalty cases that have been in the system the past five years that they had excellent lawyers. give us a sense of what you think how many, what percentage of death sentences would not have been imposed if you really had excellent representation. >> just look at georgia. zero. if you have lawyers that know what they're doing, most of those cases would resolve with plea bargains because the prosecutors knew if they went to trial, one other factor in decline his life in prison without the possibility of parole. when i practiced, a jury in georgia used to say if we don't

give you the death penalty when will they get out. the judge that we can't tell you and a half hour later he dipped the death penalty. now they have three choices, the death penalty, life in prison without parole and life in prison with parole. today a prosecutor calculating the advantage of going to the death penalty takes into account if you are up against the good lawyer you're not getting the death penalty. i think what the have learned to do is to create the moment had a time and resolve these cases with plea bargains and not risk the client being sentenced to death. we've talked about effective representation. we mentioned exoneration.

106 people have been exonerated. i know your center has been one of the leaders calling for better dna testing. i understand that's just a small number of exonerations, like 20 of of 156 has been through dna testing. if that's so, how do we, what are the mechanisms we want as a society to try to make sure we are getting the right people, besides the representation but for the case that's already been in the system, which we do? >> i think witness lineup false identification, people's identification, people's memories is not perfect and police don't always follow best practices, they do the lineup and a suggested way to get the answer they want. we also have a problem with crime labs. i think they should be independent but we have a number run by the police departments or da office. i think there has been some very improper activities in some of

these labs, in some cases intentionally doctoring evidence i think the other issue is certain procedural barriers to getting these matters in front of an appeals court. in texas, we have the michael moore in case. he was wrongfully for murdering his wife and for 26 years years he was in texas prison. the prosecutor and da obstructed the evidence and now they've had action taken against them and one of them had to leave the country to find work. the bottom line is they asked him are jupiter having been in prison and he said i've had the

long time to get over it. he's been an activist on this that shows investigators have to turn over all evidence promptly as soon as they have it to the defense. it's even a broader issue beyond the death penalty. in many instances they pose, even starting with a grand jury process, not giving the grand jury the full information. >> you talk about cost as well. i hear all sorts of different things about how the death penalty is more expensive than incarcerating someone for life because of the appeals process so what's the truth in these different competing studies and claims? >> i think it is more expensive. once because of the fact that they're put in solitary confinement you have an additional 90000 per year for the incarceration than if they

weren't in solitary confinement. i think cost is the main reason why people come down where they do on the death penalty. for many people it's a moral issue. you can look at examples, you can talk about serial killers and things like that but look at the numbers were at now. if you further circumscribed into narrow cases it would get more expensive for what would be an even my new number of people being executed. it is this kind of, the the debate is almost being forced into practical terms and now we have a ballot measure in california to get rid of it. >> i want to hear from these two as well but i think the moral

claims are really what's driving this debate. we are really seeing a strikingly different set of numbers. something beyond morality, there must be something about concerns about the way it's been carried out. >> it's a good question. i think probably there's a whole host of reasons. i think lack of confidence in government as a whole including prosecutors which we've seen the number of prosecutors drop. i think there were probably some african-american people a decade or two ago who support the death penalty but who do not now because of racial implications. the interesting thing is you don't have to get to 50-50 to have a huge effect on juries.

the reality is not everybody's going to be perfectly candid so you're going to get people on more more juries who ultimately are not willing to advise it. >> you been very patient. >> that's fine. i think new jersey was the first state to repeal the death penalty. the report that came out was unanimous and it said it took too long and re-victimizes the victims because you have to go through a pellet process and retrial the case, 28 years old now and go back and retry a 28-year-old case which is not good for anybody. the cost was a factor that went in and the risk of executing innocent people. the latest cost figures that i have hot off the press, the

reading ego, a well-regarded newspaper in pennsylvania just looked at pennsylvania since 1978 and found that they've only executed three people pennsylvania in all this time and it cost 272 million for each execution. the execution. the three together cost $816 million. that's three people over a time period of 1978 until today. a lot of people, no matter how they feel about the death penalty would look at that and say that is really not a great expenditure of government money when we have schools that need funding, when we have so many other things that we could be spending that money on. quite frankly just in the criminal justice system, i see people people in all kinds of cases getting the same kind of representation i describe in