Disparity in Death Penalties Found

By MICHAEL J. SNIFFEN, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - Death penalty critics are demanding a moratorium on executions after a Justice Department report showed racial and geographic disparity in federal death sentences, but Attorney General Janet Reno wants more studies instead.

The wide variations by race and location found in the report released Tuesday were not the product of bias in her department, Reno said, but rather resulted from social ills like poverty, drug abuse and lack of opportunity that affect minorities more than whites and produce criminals.

``The federal criminal justice system is not designed to remedy these systemic problems by itself,'' Reno told a news conference. She ordered additional studies of why some murderers get charged with federal capital crimes, as opposed to being charged by local police.

``At this point we are troubled by the figures, but we have not found the bias'' in her department's procedures, Reno said.

And she endorsed legislation proposed by Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., that would provide post-conviction DNA genetic tests for federal and state inmates.

President Clinton said the data raised questions ``since we're supposed to have a uniform law of the land.'' But he noted there had been ``no suggestion, as far as I know, that any of the cases where the convictions occurred were wrongly decided'' and said he would consult Reno before deciding what to do.

Those responses didn't mollify death penalty critics in Congress.

``Additional internal reviews alone will not satisfy public concern about our system,'' said Sen. Russell Feingold, D-Wis. His office said he would introduce a new bill this week providing a federal execution halt; he already has proposed one to stop both federal and state executions.

Feingold renewed a demand that he and Democratic Sens. Carl Levin of Michigan, Paul Wellstone of Minnesota and Tom Harkin of Iowa made in June that Clinton name a commission to study the issue and postpone any executions until it reports. ``All Americans agree that whether you die for committing a federal crime should not depend arbitrarily on where you live.''

Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., D-Ill., also demanded a moratorium instead of ``business as usual.''

``If you're an African American in Texas who commits a crime that could warrant the federal death penalty, you get it. If you're white in New York City, you probably don't. ... What is this, some form of natural selection? Death penalty Darwinism?''

Amnesty International also urged Clinton to declare a moratorium on executions.

Leahy said the study ``proves once again that this is not just an Illinois problem or a Texas problem. This is a national problem.''

But Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder, the study's author and the nation's highest ranking black law enforcement officer, saw no need for a moratorium such as the one imposed in Illinois in January by Gov. George Ryan, a Republican.

Ryan was reacting to a period when more Illinois inmates had their death sentences overturned than were executed, Holder said. ``That is not the case here in the federal system. The number of cases where we have actual claims of factual innocence are less than 1 percent.'' Those claims can be dealt with adequately through new presidential clemency procedures, Reno and Holder said.

Holder's study did show that death sentences in federal cases roughly reflected the racial percentages of defendants charged with capital crimes.

From 1995 through July 2000, U.S. attorneys forwarded for review the cases of 682 defendants who faced capital charges - 20 percent white; 80 percent, minorities.

U.S. attorneys recommended the death penalty for 183 of them - 26 percent whites; 74 percent, minorities.

Reno approved seeking death penalties for 159 - 28 percent whites; 72 percent, minorities. All involved murders.

Ultimately, 20 defendants were sentenced to death - 20 percent whites; 80 percent, minorities.

Geographically, only nine of the 94 U.S. attorney districts accounted for 43 percent of the 183 defendants that prosecutors recommended for the death penalty. They were Puerto Rico, the eastern district of Virginia, Maryland, the eastern and southern districts of New York, western Missouri, New Mexico, western Tennessee and northern Texas.

And a total of 40 districts never recommended a death penalty.

The first federal execution since 1963 is set for Dec. 12. In August, President Clinton delayed that execution so the defendant, convicted killer Juan Raul Garza, could use new procedures to appeal for clemency. (AP)