Carter calls for abolition of the death penalty

ATLANTA (AP) -- Former President Jimmy Carter says there are overwhelming ethical, financial and religious reasons to abolish the death penalty all over the world.

Carter spoke Tuesday at a daylong symposium on capital punishment at the Carter Center in Atlanta. It was not the first time he has advocated the end of the death penalty, and the Carter Center has long opposed the practice.

The former president said there are unfair racial, economic and geographic disparities in the application of the death penalty. He also said statistics have shown that the death penalty does not reduce violent crimes.

The American Bar Association's National Symposium on the Modern Death Penalty in America features panel discussions on issues that affect death row inmates from arrest to execution.