Kentucky senator Rand Paul said the racial imbalance of the nation's prisons that convinced him to support sentencing reform has not prompted him to scrutinize the death penalty in advance of a possible 2016 run for President.
Paul said he has not had a lot of feedback from minorities about the death penalty, calling it a state issue.
White people have accounted for more than half of all executions in the U.S. since 1976, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. But more than half of the country's current death row inmates are either black of Hispanic.
Paul is scheduled to speak to the National Urban League's annual convention on Friday to tout his proposals to restore voting rights to some convicted felons.
