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American Morning

Senator Russ Feingold Speaks Out on Capital Punishment

Aired June 13, 2001 - 09:06   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: The debate over the death penalty is the focus of a hearing next hour on Capitol Hill and our Jeanne Meserve is following that story for us. She's in the Washington Bureau this morning as usual -- good morning, Jeanne.

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Leon.

The execution of Timothy McVeigh has renewed the debate, always heated, on the question of the federal death penalty. As you mentioned, hearings today in the U.S. Senate on the question.

Joining me now from Capitol Hill, Senator Russ Feingold, Democrat, from the state of Wisconsin.

Senator, Attorney General John Ashcroft issued a report just last week saying he found no racial bias in the administration of the death penalty and yet you'd like to see a moratorium, why is that?

SEN. RUSS FEINGOLD (D), WISCONSIN: Well, I don't see how the attorney general could have come to that conclusion. Ninety percent of the people on federal death row now are minorities, either Black or Hispanic, since the execution of Tim McVeigh. And a report came out from the Justice Department last September that indicated very serious racial and geographic disparities in the federal death penalty. I can't believe that we're going to go forward with the execution of a Hispanic American next week in Terre Haute without seriously conducting the study that Attorney General Ashcroft promised me would be done. So I do think there should be a moratorium but an absolute minimum, there should be the study before any execution goes forward.

MESERVE: Some people would say if the people on federal death row are guilty, they've been found so by a jury, they've been through the appeals process, why should this process - this question, rather, of a - of a broader question of a racial prejudice hold up their execution? Why shouldn't they die for crimes they have been found guilty of committing?

FEINGOLD: Well, under a system that is not biased, perhaps they should, if that's what you believe. But I'm standing here where I can actually see the top of the United States Supreme Court. It says equal justice under law and that means if you're white, you shouldn't have less of a chance of getting the death penalty for the same offense then if you're Black or Hispanic. What the evidence is beginning to suggest, and we need to study this, is if there's a much greater chance if you're Black or Hispanic that you'll get the death penalty for perhaps the same crime or you'll get the death penalty in one part of the country but not another part. That is not equal justice under law and anyone, whether you're for or against the death penalty, can't possibly believe that that's fair. That's why we need a moratorium and that's why there has to be a serious study by outside experts of if there really is a bias in the system.

MESERVE: Well, there are people who, despite what you claim as racial prejudice, still support the death penalty. And they're saying it's important because it has a deterrent effect. They point to the last time there was a moratorium and say at that point, the murder rate went way up in this country. What's your response to them?

FEINGOLD: My response is we haven't had the death penalty in Wisconsin for 150 years and we have one of the lower crime rates and one of the lower homicide rates in the entire country. We've done very well with a good tough punishment system but without the death penalty. So I'm against the death penalty in all cases.

But the purpose of this hearing today is to say whether you're for or against the death penalty. You can't possibly believe that we should go forward with executions when there are questions about whether it's more likely you'll get the death penalty if you're Black or Hispanic than if you're white. That is a fundamental violation of American principles of justice and fairness and it needs to be investigated.

MESERVE: Senator Russ Feingold, thanks so much for joining us...

FEINGOLD: Thank you.

MESERVE: ... from Capitol Hill this morning.

And this note, we will be talking to a supporter of the death penalty who will be testifying at that Senate hearing later today next hour.

Now, back to you in Atlanta.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Jeanne, thank you.

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