The Moratorium Campaign writes: "Attorney-General John Ashcroft may not ready to admit that the death penalty in America is flawed, but the American people certainly are. A 2001 NBC News-Wall Street Journal poll reports that support for a national moratorium on the death penalty is at 72 percent. The Moratorium Campaign, led by Sister Helen Prejean, author of Dead Man Walking, has gathered over 380,000 signatures nationwide on its petition for moratorium, which is featured online at http://www.MoratoriumCampaign.org. Americans have indicated strongly that a halt to executions is a must.

A preliminary Justice Department report released in September 2000 found racial bias in the Federal death penalty. Yet, opposite conclusions were drawn from the same data by Ashcroft, who has been a staunch supporter of capital punishment throughout his political career. It is time that the government stopped pretending that everything is A-O.K. with the criminal justice system and took a deep look at capital punishment and the way in which it is applied in America. As a self-proclaimed beacon of human rights, the United States must act maturely and admit that its own system has its faults."