Former First Lady Roslyn Carter has publicly called for a moratorium on executions.

Speaking at the American Bar Association annual meeting in D.C., Mrs. Carter said "she was disturbed by the number of mentally ill, young, minority and poorly represented defendants sent to death row."

''Executing mentally ill people does not make sense as a deterrence, and it undermines the integrity and fairness of our system of justice...''

She also said she was "appalled at a recent study's finding that almost seven of every 10 cases ending in death sentences contained 'serious reversible error.' "

Mrs. Carter endorsed both the Innocence Protection Act and the Moratorium on Federal Executions bill now pending before Congress.

She informed the audience that "blacks convicted of killing whites are sentenced to death 22 times more often than blacks who kill blacks, and more than seven times the rate of whites who kill blacks."

While she praised the recent Supreme Court decision banning execution of the mentally retarded, she said we need to go further by extending the ban to the mentally ill and juveniles.

''It should be an embarrassment to every American that we execute children,'' she said. ''The United States is the only country in the industrialized world that still executes anyone, and executing children puts us in the company of Somalia --- only Somalia.''

Mrs. Carter said that "nearly 80 offenders who were under 18 at the time of their convictions sit on death row --- the highest number since the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976. "

Thank you, Mrs. Carter.