I urge you to support ending the federal death penalty.

​People of color are more likely to be capitally prosecuted, sentenced to death, and executed, especially if the victim is white. This is true in the federal death penalty system just as in the states. Today, 57% of those under a federal death sentence are people of color, and 40% are Black. There are Black men under federal death sentence who were convicted and sentenced by all-white juries. Seeking a federal death sentence instead of having a state prosecution has often served to “bleach” the jury pool in places like Richmond, Philadelphia, New Orleans, and St. Louis.

Federal prosecutors have appealed to racial stereotypes in pursuit of death sentences, and federal judges have blocked attorneys’ efforts to investigate racial bias by federal capital juries. These are the hallmarks of an arbitrary and unfair system. Further, many of those on federal death row today were sentenced as a result of the 1994 Crime Bill or other excessive policies of the 1990s that led to the over-federalization of crimes and the excessive punishment of so many people of color.

It is time to end the death penalty.