ACLU

["Charles Brown" <CharlesB@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>From the website of the American Civil Liberties Union.
To send a prepared letter to President Clinton and/or
your Congressional representatives, check out:
<
http://www.aclu.org/cgi-bin/take_action2000.pl?GetDoc=
341&dir=aclu&redirect=/act>

Impose A Moratorium on Federal Executions

Despite its own study showing racial and geographic
disparities in the use of the federal death penalty,
the U.S. government is preparing to carry out the first
federal execution in nearly 40 years. Juan Garza is
scheduled to be executed on December 12 even though the
Department of Justice itself has acknowledged that at
the time Garza was sentenced in Texas, U.S. attorneys
there brought death penalty cases only against Hispanic
Americans.

Policymakers must no longer ignore reality: the system
of capital punishment in America is administered
unfairly, arbitrarily and in a way that risks executing
those who are undeserving of death. No execution should
proceed until the systemic problems are resolved.

Take Action! Urge President Clinton to recognize the
flaws in the system of capital punishment and declare a
moratorium on federal executions before the end of his
term.

Resolve Questions of Unfairness in the Death Penalty!
Both the Attorney General and the President have
expressed concerns about the federal death penalty and
called for further studies. During a September news
conference releasing the Department of Justice report,
Attorney General Janet Reno stated that "an even
broader analysis must be undertaken to determine if
bias plays a role in the federal death system." She
asked the National Institute for Justice to conduct
further independent review, which have not yet been
completed. It would be unconscionable to execute any
federal prisoners when the government itself admits to
serious questions of racial bias.

The relationship between race and the death penalty is
also very well documented. Recently released Justice
Department data demonstrate that racial disparities
permeate every level of the federal death penalty
system. Hispanic and African-American defendants make
up 70 percent to 80 percent of the group of defendants
whom U.S. Attorneys and the Justice Department
recommend for the death penalty. Of 21 federal
prisoners currently facing death sentences, 17 - or  81
percent - are members of racial/ethnic minorities.
Hispanics are 2.3 times more likely to be authorized
for federal capital prosecution than whites.

Whether someone convicted of a capital crime will
receive a death sentence is highly dependent on the
state or county in which that person was tried and
convicted. U.S. Attorneys in 16 states, including
Texas, have been authorized to seek the death penalty
in at least 50 percent of the cases submitted for
consideration to the Justice Department, but U.S.
attorneys in 21 other states have either never
requested or never obtained authorization to seek the
death penalty. Of the inmates currently sitting on
federal death row, almost 30 percent were prosecuted in
a single state - Texas.

TAKE ACTION!

Email President Clinton at president@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Fax President Clinton at 202-456-2461.