Five facts to know about the federal death penalty

The Death Penalty Information Center has reported how the federal death penalty has been used disproportionately against people of colour.

Here are five facts to know about the federal death penalty:

 1. The federal death penalty is rarely used as intended for a narrow set of crimes that implicate national interests or security. 

2. Since 1989, nearly 3 in 4 defendants authorised for federal death penalty prosecution have been people of colour.

3. Federal capital trials are more likely to have juries with fewer people of colour, increasing the risk of wrongful conviction and that racial bias will affect the outcome. 

4. The federal death penalty has the same longstanding systemic flaws as do many state level capital punishment systems.

5. The federal government authorised the largest mass execution in U.S. history against Native Americans. 

Since the federal death penalty was reinstated in 1988, multiple studies have demonstrated that racial disparities continue to define federal capital prosecutions. You can read more about this here