WASHINGTON — President Clinton has postponed what would be the first federal execution in 37 years pending a study of whether capital punishment is implemented fairly.
Clinton postponed until June 2001 the execution of Juan Raul Garza, an inmate on federal death row.
Clinton said the delay would give the Justice Department time to gather and analyze information about alleged racial and geographic disparities in the federal death-penalty system.
“I believe that the death penalty is appropriate for the most heinous crimes,” Clinton said in a Dec. 7 statement staying the execution until a new president is in the White House.
“Whether one supports the death penalty or opposes it, there should be no question that the gravity and finality of the penalty demand that we be certain that when it is imposed, it is imposed fairly,” he said.
This fall, the Department of Justice released the results of a statistical survey of the federal death penalty. It found that minority defendants and certain geographic districts are disproportionately represented in federal death-penalty prosecutions.
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