[Announce-DAN] 11-29-00 -- ACLU Action Update: Prevent the First Federal Execution in Nearly 40 Years!

[buildingbridges@mindspring.com]

TO: ACLU Action Network
FR: Jared Feuer, Internet Organizer
DT: November 29, 2000

While the nation focuses on the Presidential election, plans are quietly
being made by the U.S. government to carry out the first federal execution
in nearly 40 years. On December 12, Juan Garaza is scheduled to be
executed even though the Department of Justice itself has raised serious
questions about the racial and geographic bias in the federal death
penalty system. In fact, the Justice Department has acknowledged that at
the time Garza was sentenced in Texas, U.S. attorneys there brought death
penalty cases only against Hispanic Americans.

The relationship between race and the death penalty is well documented. 
Hispanics and African American defendants make up 70 percent to 80 percent
of the group of defendants recommended for the federal death penalty.
Geographical disparities also exist, and almost 30 percent of inmates
currently sitting on federal death row were prosecuted in a single state -
Texas. Both the Attorney General and the President have expressed concerns
about these studies, and Attorney General Janet Reno has stated that "an
even broader analysis must be undertaken to determine if bias plays a role
in the federal death system." These questions of unfairness must be
resolved before the federal government decides to begin executing
individuals for the first time since the 1960's.

Take Action!  You can urge President Clinton to declare a moratorium on
federal executions before the end of his term by sending a FREE FAX from
our action alert at:

http://www.aclu.org/action/clintonmoratorium107.html

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