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From Terry Frieden
CNN Justice Producer

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Justice Department late Thursday released its review of federal capital punishment cases which says that although members of minorities disproportionately are defendants in capital cases, that over-representation is not the result of racial or ethnic bias.

The 31-page report says a detailed analysis of more than 900 federal death penalty cases brought by prosecutors over a five-year period ending last summer shows the death penalty was sought at lower rates for black and Hispanic defendants than white defendants eligible for capital punishment.

The study attributes the larger proportion of minorities in the federal death penalty system to a variety of factors including law enforcement strategies. But, once the death-penalty eligible defendants were in the hands of federal prosecutors, the handling of the cases reflected no discrimination the study concludes.

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"The cause of this disproportion is not racial or ethnic bias, but the representation of minorities in the pool of potential federal capital cases," the document says.

The Justice review says a factor of particular importance is the focus of federal enforcement efforts on drug trafficking enterprises and related criminal violence.

"In areas where large-scale organized drug trafficking is largely carried out by gangs whose membership is drawn from minority groups, the active federal role in investigating and prosecuting these crimes results in a high proportion of minority defendants," the report says.

Attorney General John Ashcroft unveiled the central conclusions of the study in an appearance before the House Judiciary Committee, where he repeatedly stressed the study mirrored last year's preliminary findings by Attorney General Janet Reno.

"The Reno study concluded, and our analysis has confirmed, that black and Hispanic defendants were less likely at each stage of the Department's review process to be subjected to the death penalty than White defendants," Ashcroft told the Committee.

In December the Clinton administration had postponed for six months the scheduled execution of convicted drug kingpin Juan Raul Garza, citing a need for further study to determine whether racial or geographic bias was responsible for the large numbers of minority members facing possible death sentences.

The execution of Garza is scheduled for June 19, and Justice Department officials emphasized there is no basis for a delay. That execution is currently scheduled to take place only eight days after next Monday's scheduled execution of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh.

Opponents of capital punishment, who have been largely silent in the McVeigh case, have rallied to Garza's cause, urging a moratorium on the federal death penalty. Attorney General John Ashcroft flatly rejected the request in his Capitol Hill appearance.

Ashcroft acknowledged concern about one area which prompted him to announce a policy change.

"We did note a slight statistical disparity [favoring white defendants] in the treatment of plea agreements," Ashcroft said. "I am announcing today that in order to have greater consistency in all aspects of the application of the federal death penalty I am changing the protocols [procedures] to require prior approval by the Attorney General before a capital charge may be dropped in the context of a plea agreement," he said.

Justice Department officials said figures show former Attorney General Reno had approved seeking the death penalty in about 30 percent of the death-penalty eligible cases before her. They said in his first months in office Ashcroft has a similar record.

Since taking office Ashcroft has considered the cases of 29 defendants. In seven cases the death penalty was sought, while in 22 cases it was not.