LCCR Letter to the Senate Urging Cosponsorship of the National Death Penalty Moratorium Act of 2001

Dear Senator: 

We are writing to ask that you co-sponsor S. 233 "The National Death Penalty Moratorium Act of 2001" which would impose a moratorium on the federal death penalty and establish a commission to study the use of the death penalty in both the federal and state systems. There is a compelling need for a moratorium: a recent Department of Justice survey documents racial, ethnic and geographic disparity in the charging of federal capital cases. The explanation for these extremely troubling disparities is unclear, but the possibility of discrimination and bias cannot be ruled out. 

On September 12, 2000, the Clinton Justice Department released a report: "The Federal Death Penalty System: A Statistical Survey (1988-2000)." The survey of the death penalty authorization process by the Department of Justice reveals that, among all the federal capital defendants against whom the Attorney General has authorized seeking the death penalty, 69% have been Hispanic and African-American (18% and 51% respectively) while only 25% have been white. The Department of Justice does not have data concerning the potential pool of persons against whom federal capital cases might be filed and authorized. However, analogous data does exist concerning state prisoners. Only 12% of all persons entering the state prisons after being convicted of homicide are Hispanic. Using similar data, 40% of all persons entering the state prisons after being convicted of homicide are white. As former Attorney General Reno recognized, these data indicate that minorities are over-represented in the federal death penalty system. 

These disparities troubled the Clinton administration causing the Department of Justice to seek follow-up studies. These studies are ongoing and will likely take another 18 months to two years to complete. No executions should go forward until they are complete. During questioning before the Senate Judiciary Committee at his confirmation hearing, Senator Ashcroft agreed to continue the follow-up study and stated, "no individual should be subjected to capital punishment where it is apparent that he or she was denied the full rigors of Due Process, or his or her conviction and/or sentence was imposed on account of the individual's race." 

The Justice Department survey also reveals inexplicable geographic disparities in the administration of the federal death penalty. In 16 states, prosecutors seek and obtain death penalty authorization in at least 50% of the federal capital cases that are submitted for review by the Attorney General. On the other hand, there are eight states in which that rate is much lower, ranging from 8-30% and 21 states where U.S. Attorneys have either never requested or never obtained authorization to seek the death penalty. Among the eight states where U.S. Attorneys have submitted 20 or more cases for consideration, the death penalty authorization rate exceeds 50% in only one state - Texas - and ranges from 15 - 38% in the rest. 

We recognize that for some there is a moral difference between executing an innocent person and executing someone who is guilty of a horrible offense, but is sentenced to death because of his racial or ethnic background or the happenstances of where he is tried. But we believe it would be wrong and unconscionable for society to make actual innocence the final test for who should live or die. At least one federal case, Ronnie David Chandler, raised such significant questions of innocence that his sentence was commuted from death to life in prison. 

It is clear that the federal government should not resume executions while these serious questions about the fairness of the death penalty remain. Any thoughtful discussion of the death penalty can only occur after the Justice Department completes its study and issues a publicly available report setting out the results and any problems identified are properly remedied. In light of the questions that have been raised to date and the growing national support for a moratorium, carrying out even a single execution prior to the completion of this crucial study would be unconscionable. Your support of S. 233 will help make a moratorium on federal executions become a reality. 

Thank you very much for your attention to this important matter. We look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely, 

Wade Henderson, Executive Director
Dr. Dorothy I. Height, Chairperson
Leadership Conference on Civil Rights