[Amnesty Action (publication of Amnesty International), Sept/Oct '90]

IRELAND -- Parliament Abolishes The Death Penalty

The Republic of Ireland officially abolished the death penalty on July
5. "In finally abolishing the death penalty Ireland will be joining
the vast bulk of western developed nations who have already done so,"
said Irish Justice Minister Ray Burke, as he introduced the
government bill for debate June 1.

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In 82 percent of the death-sentencing cases studied by the General
Accounting Office (GAO) last year, "race of the victim was found to
influence the likelihood of being charged with capital murder or
receiving the death penalty." The GAO study, required by Congress in
1988 and released earlier this year, marks the first acknowledgment by
a government office of the link between race and death sentencing
since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. According to the
National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, a study that also
showed racial bias in death sentencing was released during a 1987
Supreme Court case. The Court's refusal to act on the evidence
prompted the introduction of the Racial Justice Act, awaiting
congressional action, which would allow those sentenced to death to
claim racial discrimination and prove it based on statistical studies
[In These Times, May 16-22, 1990

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[Amnesty '90 Regional Campaign Mailing [Kentucky Action]]

"There are 6 black prisoners on death row, but the crucial statistics
concerns the race of the victim. Nobody is on death row in Kentucky
for killing a black person. Recently, researchers Vito and Keil
from the University of Louisville confirmed the existence of race bias
in the death sentencing process, concluding that
 	Blacks who kill whites are more likely to receive the death
	penalty in Kentucky [than any other offender/victim racial
	combination] regardless of the seriousness of the homicide.

The Execution of the Mentally Retarded.

At least six people diagnosed as mentally retarded or as borderline
cases have been executed in the last five years. One of these men was
Jerome Bowden, who was executed in Georgia in 1989. With an IQ of 59,
Bowden was once seen filling up the gas tank of a lawn mower with
water from a garden hose."

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