The Senate passed legislation today that would permit the death penalty for drug dealers convicted of murder, rejecting pleas that the measure would be a move toward ``reducing the civility'' of society. The election-year legislation was sent to the House on a 65-29 vote. The bill's fate is less certain in that chamber, where the House Judiciary Committee _ which will consider it _ has been hostile to capital punishment legislation in the past. ``Murder is murder, whether legal or illegal,'' said Sen. Dan Evans, R-Wash. ``We are reducing the civility and the compassion of our society.'' But Sen. Alfonse D'Amato, R-N.Y., the bill's sponsor, said, ``I believe society has a right to say we are outraged at certain acts, and the death penalty is the appropriate penalty in these cases.'' Before final passage, lawmakers voted 66-28 to set aside a provision by Sen. Paul Simon, D-Ill., that would have limited the bill's capital punishment provisions to drug dealers who are convicted of killing law enforcement officers. On voice votes, they accepted a provision that would allow prison employees to refuse to participate in executions, and rejected language that would have required prisoners to be killed in public. Both measures were sponsored by Sen. Mark Hatfield, R-Ore. On Thursday, the Senate voted 69-27 to shut off debate, ending a filibuster by opponents who had stalled a vote. ``I'm not saying the death penalty will eliminate the drug problem, but I do think it will serve as a deterrent,'' said D'Amato. But opponents decried the bill as election-year politics, saying it would do nothing to deter drug dealing and represented a cynical response to public demands to do something about illegal drugs. Evans referred to a similar bill proposed in 1986 and said: ``Once again, we're going for an election-year slam dunk on drugs. ... We're taking precipitous steps to indulge our own political vanity.'' The D'Amato bill provides that the death penalty can be imposed on people who are convicted in federal courts of running a drug ring and who are then separately convicted of killing law enforcement officers or private citizens. Many states, including those with severe drug problems, already have the death penalty and it hasn't had much deterrent effect, opponents of the bill said. Before invoking cloture, the Senate voted 65-31 against an amendment that would have imposed a penalty of life imprisonment without parole, instead of the death penalty, for people convicted under the terms of D'Amato's bill. D'Amato's proposal was originally attached as an amendment to the Pentagon budget bill, but opponents filibustered and D'Amato withdrew his proposal in return for a promise by Senate leaders to give him a vote on a separate bill. Supporters said the death penalty would deter drug kingpins. Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Texas, said, ``To go on talking about a war on drugs and not commit ourselves to a death penalty for those who kill our law enforcement officers in that war is to make a mockery of saying we have a war on drugs.'' But Sen. Paul Simon, D-Ill., said, ``The evidence that the death penalty is a deterrent is just not there at all.'' Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., added that the death penalty provision could lead to the execution of innocent people. He cited a Stanford University study which said 350 people have been convicted of capital offenses in this century and then later found to be innocent. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, responded that there are enough safeguards in the legal system to protect innocent persons. ``Nobody should be able to kill our policemen without paying the ultimate price,'' he said. Also Thursday, the House Banking Committee approved legislation to make it more difficult for drug dealers and other criminals to hide their profits. The bill would require banks to file transaction reports with the government for all cashiers' checks, money orders and travelers' checks of $3,000 or more. Now, banks need to file such reports on transactions of $10,000 or more. New York Mayor Edward I. Koch, meanwhile, was proposing the creation of ``tent jails'' in Nevada to incarcerate convicted drug offenders and relieve prison overcrowding elsewhere. In an appearance before two House Armed Services subcommittees, Koch conceded that Nevada probably wouldn't think much of his idea.
