(FYI...feel free to post your thoughts if you wish...)

July 24, 2000
Death Sentences Highlight Racial Gap
Filed at 9:28 a.m. EDT
By The Associated Press

CHICAGO (AP) -- White defendants in federal capital cases are more likely than blacks to negotiate plea bargains that spare their lives, according to an analysis of 146 cases prosecuted since Congress reinstated capital punishment.

Sixty percent of white defendants avoided capital punishment through a negotiated settlement in cases in which the Justice Department chose to pursue the death penalty. Typically, those plea bargains result in either life sentences or long prison terms.

For black defendants in those cases, 41 percent reached an agreement with prosecutors, according to the Federal Death Penalty Resource Counsel Project, a private group that receives federal funding to track federal capital cases.

``This raises a red flag,'' said David Baldus, a University of Iowa law professor who has studied race and the death penalty. ``The sample on the plea agreements isn't so small at all, and the magnitude of the disparity is very strong.''

The analysis parallels a Justice Department study of geographic and racial differences in the imposition of the death penalty. This month, President Clinton ordered the postponement of the first federal execution in 40 years, scheduled for Aug. 5, until the Justice Department could complete the review and establish clemency procedures.

Attorney General Janet Reno said last week she expects the results soon.

Justice Department spokesman Myron Marlin said the statistical disparity alone does not necessarily demonstrate racial bias by federal prosecutors.

``Plea bargain numbers alone can be misleading,'' Marlin told the Chicago Tribune. ``They do not show how often pleas are offered or the rates at which they were rejected or accepted ... One cannot tell the severity of the offense involved, the strength of the case or considerations affected by judicial rulings during the course of the trial.''


~~wbg~~
AIM: wbgirl218

http://www.breastcancer3day.org
between this and the (re), Chicago in 2001 will be on some whole new fantabulous shyt! (c) me

"When it comes to food for thought, some of us are on a hunger strike." (c) Dick Gregory

Ju-Lie as Fake Quote Month:
"eff the o'jays! i ain't listening to nuthin' but hip-hop now on! that biggie is somethin' else, ya know?" (c) steve harvey

~~wbg~~
"I pray sometimes to keep my head together,
because you can use prayer however you want.
There are no rules one way or the other."
--Jami Attenberg

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