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JUNE 7, 2001

Attorney General John Ashcroft on Wednesday denied there is any racial bias in federal executions even though minorities are the overwhelmingly majority of death penalty inmates.

According to the final version of a Department of Justice study which Ashcroft outlined at a Congressional hearing, the federal death penalty was sought for 38 percent of whites, 25 percent of blacks and 20 percent of Hispanics. Yet minorities make up about 80 percent of death row convictions.

Get the Story:
U.S. Death Penalty System Not Biased, Ashcroft Declares (The Washington Post 6/7)
Attorney General Says Report Shows No Racial Bias in Death Sentences (The New York Times 6/7)
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