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JUNE 14, 2001

Deputy Attorney General Larry Thompson told a Senate subcommittee on Wednesday that the Department of Justice will study the federal death penalty system in depth to see if it is racially or ethnically biased.

Thompson's words to the Senate Judiciary subcommittee come a week after his boss John Ashcroft said a report on the death penalty proves there is no such bias. But death penalty opponents, including chairman Senator Russell D. Feingold (D-Wisc.) point out that more than 80 percent of federal death penalty convicts are minorities.

Convicted Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh was executed last week, the first federal execution in 38 years. Convicted drug lord Juan Raul Garza is set to die next Tuesday.

Get the Story:
Death penalty advocates dispute notion of racism in federal system (AP 6/14)
Justice Dept. Set to Study Death Penalty in More Depth (The New York Times 6/14)
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