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Breaking News from America's Progressive Community... Latest Releases
Making news? The press releases posted here have been provided to NewsCenter by the one of the many progressive organizations we have selected to participate . If you would like more information about this press release, you should contact the organization directly.
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| OCTOBER 6, 1998
6:00 AM FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Amnesty International |
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| Amnesty International Launches 1-Year Campaign To Fight Human Rights Abuses In The United States | ||||
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| WASHINGTON -
October 6 - Statement by Pierre Sané Secretary General, Amnesty International Today Amnesty International members all over the world are starting a campaign to improve human rights protection for all those who live on US soil. We are doing this at a time when the US political establishment is immersed on issues of morality in politics and society. The concept of right and wrong is high in today's news agenda. This is the time, then, to address seriously long standing human wrongs in this country. To address the violation of the dignity of the voiceless. Of the prisoners subjected to inhuman treatment. Of the members of ethnic minorities brutalized by the police. Of the asylum seekers jailed like criminals. Amnesty International has been knocking on the doors of Congress for the past 37 years. We have been telling the US authorities that cruelty does not just happen elsewhere. Serious human rights violations are not just a foreign affair. They are happening in the US today and -- worst of all -- some are on the increase. And where is the public outcry? Where are the zealous defenders of morality when a mentally ill inmate is shackled to a four-point metal restraint board for 12 weeks? When a pregnant woman is shackled during her seven hours of labour? Where is the public outcry at the shockingly cruel conditions in many of the nations's jails and prisons? Or at the New York Police department's 3 million dollar purchase of the right to kill Anthony Baez with impunity? What we have in the US political establishment today is a clear case of hypocrisy and inconsistency. The words of a refugee who was detained in harsh conditions for 14 months before being granted asylum painfully illustrates the situation: "Everyone says America is the place for human rights. I thought maybe I had arrived in the wrong country." A greater focus on the punishment rather than the rehabilitation of prisoners has led to cuts in programs and facilities in many US prisons. Prison authorities are turning to other ways of dealing with prisoners. Ways that are cruel, painful and often life threatening: supermaximum security units, electro-shock devices, chemical sprays, lethal injections. Not all sectors of society are equally affected by this, however. This is a country were racial discrimination remained legal until the 1960s, underpinning a system where black people faced discrimination at work, at school and at the hands of the police and the criminal justice system. In a country still struggling to eradicate racial discrimination, more than 60 per cent of prisoners come from racial minorities. Up to one third of all young black men in the US are in jail or prison, or on parole or probation. You have all received copies of the one-hundred-and-fifty page report published for this campaign. The abuses it describes, should shock the conscience of people everywhere. It is one of several reports on human rights in the USA to be published this year, but only one of many produced by our organization in the past decade. Since the report was completed, we have continued to receive information of disturbing cases from around the country: INS detainees in a Florida jail subjected to electroshocks, beatings, punitive solitary confinement and prolonged shackling. Use of restraint chairs in juvenile facilities in Maine. Sexual abuse of women in prison. Retaliation against those who dare to complain or denounce. What Amnesty International is saying today, has been said many, many times before, and not only by us. A large and very active NGO community in the USA has repeatedly raised its voice as well against the persistent pattern of police brutality, the endemic violence against prisoners, the punitive treatment of asylum seekers, the arbitrary, unfair and racist use of the death penalty. As we speak, the State of Virginia is preparing to execute next week a young man who was just 17 at the time the offense was committed. There is nothing new here. It has all been denounced again and again. And that is the reason for this campaign. Enough has been written and said. In a perfect symbol of the current state of human rights in this country, juvenile justice measures are being proposed that would encourage the trial of 15-year-old children as adults. Many of these children could end up in adult prisons, where they could face the risk of being raped, tortured and murdered. The truth is that many standards of human rights protection in the United States have not kept pace with evolving international standards of decency. The United States has one of the worst ratification records of all industrialized nations. Together with Somalia, the US is the only country in the world not to have ratified the International Convention on the Rights of the Child. Even though the US government uses these same international standards to judge others, it fails to apply the same yard stick at home. It has campaigned vigorously to block the establishment of a truly effective and independent international criminal court. And it continues to fuel violations abroad by providing weapons and expertise to governments that deliberately violate the rights of their citizens. Amnesty International can only welcome at the current soul searching on morality in politics. But unless this exercise addresses the central needs for the protection of the dignity of the weakest groups in society human rights in the USA will continue to be a tale of two nations: rich and poor, white and black, male and female. ###
New reports of children and women abused in correctional institutions Findings from Amnesty International Research tripThe findings of a two-week research trip by Amnesty International in the USA show that the abuse of women prisoners in particular - as highlighted in the report released today - is still continuing in many states the US. The investigation team heard from current and former women prisoners, their lawyers and relatives and prison staff about their treatment in prison including: *women shackled during labor The team also heard further reports of abuse in a juvenile detention center in Maine, which have led in the past week to calls for an independent investigation into the allegations. The researchers - who visited Maine, Michigan, Illinois and California between 19 September and 2 October - found that many prisoners or prison staff were afraid to complain because of intimidation or retaliation. "The message we heard over and over again was that if they complain, they suffer for it," said researcher Jo Szwarc. Many of the people interviewed asked that their names be kept confidential for this reason. Details of the investigation team's findings are: Michigan Both of the women told the researchers that despite the fact that the US Justice Department investigated sexual abuse of prisoners in Michigan, and started legal action against the state, women inmates in Michigan are still sexually abused by correctional officers. They said that guards sexually assaulted women, watched them in the showers or when dressing, and touched their breasts and genitals during pat searches. The women also reported inadequate and inappropriate medical attention. Amnesty International's researchers also spoke with two guards from a women's prison, who supported the inmate's complaints. The guards said there was a pattern of sexual abuse of women prisoners, with women intimidated or punished if they complained. Amnesty International's report cites an investigation into Michigan's women's prisons by the US Justice Department, which found that inmates who complain suffer intimidation and retaliation. The inmates and guards interviewed by the researchers said that reprisals continue and that both inmates and staff have been threatened and victimized. One guard said she was harassed after she complained about the abuse meted out by other guards and was savagely beaten and slashed by an unknown person within the prison, in an area that is out of bounds to prisoners. Deborah LaBelle, a Michigan lawyer, has recently filed suit to seek the protection of the courts for inmates who have complained about incidents at the prison. Illinois One woman, who was released on parole this year, said that she had been shackled to her bed for the entire time that she was undergoing surgery in hospital, even while unconscious under full anesthetic and despite the fact that she was constantly attended by an armed guard. She said: "When you go to prison all your rights have been taken away. You are given horseshit and you have to swallow it." Another woman told Amnesty International that earlier this year a guard broke a female inmate's jaw and the victim was immediately transferred to another facility. She said that prison staff then turned off the prisoners' telephone system so no one could report the incident to the outside world. "We were in 'the Twilight Zone'," she said. California Both inmates and a former staff member contacted Amnesty International earlier this year complaining of sexual and physical abuse, intimidation and poor medical attention. In the letter from the inmates, they said that "we are in need of adequate medical care, that we don’t like to be pawed by male correctional officers under the pretense of being pat searched, which is really being stroked and caress searched". They also stated that complaints about abuse or harassment by prison guards are routinely denied - "the appeal is sent back to you unanswered, but the harassment will continue". The letter from a former Valley State Prison staff member describes sexual, legal and other abuse in the prison, and concludes with the view that the prison is run in an "illegal, harsh and thug like manner". During the recent visit to California, the investigation team met with lawyers representing women in California's state prisons, prison visitors, and a psychiatrist. The researchers also attended a conference about prison issues - Critical Resistance Conference -where they talked to many people who had been imprisoned. The complaints about Valley State Prison for Women relate mainly to the prison's "Special Housing Unit" where inmates are locked in their cells for 23 hours a day without work or education. Amnesty International's report expresses considerable concern about such facilities, which are proliferating throughout the USA within prisons and sometimes as prisons in their own right - the so-called "supermaximum" facilities. A California psychiatrist who has investigated these prisons told Amnesty International that the harsh conditions can induce psychosis and visitors to the facility described women "losing their minds" because of their treatment. A lawyer reported that one woman had her stay in the Unit constantly extended because she covered a slot in her cell door when using the toilet, in breach of the rules. The repeated punishment of her desire for a little privacy had broken her, and now on occasion she stands naked and shouts for attention. Maine The researchers investigated reports of these and other violations against children at the Maine Youth Center in South Portland. Amnesty International had already informed the Maine authorities that it had received complaints including the cruel use of restraints, unnecessary and excessive force by staff and placing children in solitary confinement for extended periods, and had urged the Governor to establish an independent investigation. In response, Amnesty International had been told that its information was inaccurate and out of date so it decided to investigate further. A researcher interviewed staff, parents of children currently in the Youth Center, and children who had recently been released from the facility. They confirmed that there were continuing grounds for concern about the treatment of children. Disturbingly, some parents insisted on anonymity because they said staff had warned them against complaining. Staff who spoke to Amnesty International also did so on a confidential basis, afraid of repercussions. In the last week, Amnesty International's concerns about abuses at the Center were dramatically supported by the revelation of a recent memorandum by a staff member that documented children being placed in the restraint chair for as long as 17 hours. Maine legislators publicly called for an independent inquiry and several days ago the state Department of Corrections announced that it would ask an external body to review its disciplinary procedures. ###
A pick-and-choose approach to human rightsDespite its claims to international leadership in human rights the USA is failing to respect the fundamental promise of rights for all both at home and abroad, Amnesty International said today, as it launched its first worldwide campaign on the country's human rights situation. "All countries, irrespective of their power or political system, have a duty to protect the rights of all their people, but across the USA, thousands are falling victim to human rights violations," said Pierre Sané, Amnesty International's Secretary General. "All too often, human rights in the USA are a tale of two nations: rich and poor, white and black, male and female." Amnesty International's campaign will highlight abuses by US police and prison officials -- often carried out with high tech repression tools like electro-shock devices and chemical sprays -- the arbitrary, unfair and racist use of the death penalty, and the growing incarceration of asylum-seekers. At the same time, the campaign will focus attention on the USA's double standards regarding foreign policy and international human rights commitments. According to Amnesty International, the USA's role in establishing the international system of human rights protection is in marked contrast with its reluctance to submit itself to international scrutiny of its own human rights record, and to live up to the same standards that it demands from other countries. "As the world's largest producer and exporter of arms, the USA contributes to human rights abuse by supplying equipment and training to governments and armed groups known to have carried out torture, political killings and other abuses," Mr Sané continued. The type of electro-shock weapons produced by the USA have been used to torture victims around the world, and are now banned in some Western European countries and in Canada. Items used and exported by the USA -- like leg-irons, thumb-cuffs, electro-shock weapons and pepper spray -- easily or inherently lend themselves to torture or ill-treatment. "The USA is simply not doing enough to ensure that such equipment is not being used to commit human rights violations. Current US laws and procedures are just not addressing the problem," Pierre Sané said. A good case in point is that of Turkey, for instance, where according to reports issued by the US State Department in 1995, there is "highly credible" evidence that US-supplied military equipment was used in some village evacuations involving human rights violations. Turkey's special units of paramilitary gendarmes and police -- two of the forces most frequently accused of political killings, "disappearances" and torture -- have used assault rifles, grenade launchers and helicopters obtained from the USA. Responding to pressure, the US government held up a few arms exports to Turkey in 1997, but recent reports indicate that further exports have been allowed. In April 1998, a US company was negotiating to sell 10,000 electro-shock weapons to the Turkish police, despite its long, well documented record of practising electro-shock torture. "Given its prominent role in the global arms market, the USA should aim for full transparency regarding all transfers, and adopt a Code of Conduct aimed at stopping torturing countries from acquiring both the technology and the know-how," Mr Sané stressed. "Any transfer likely to contribute to human rights abuses should be immediately stopped." Amnesty International is also highly critical of the selective approach of the US government in condemning human rights violations in other countries. "The US authorities are quick to criticize human rights violations in countries considered hostile, but are then unwilling to take appropriate action when abuses are committed by US allies or when the USA's political or economic interests could be compromised," Mr Sané said. The US government's long standing refusal to criticize blatant human rights violations by Israel against the Palestinian population, its passivity in the face of gross human rights violations in Saudi Arabia, and the playing down by US officials of the massacres in Rwanda are some examples of this. In addition to its double standards in terms of foreign policy, the USA is also failing to deliver the promise of human rights for all to people within its own territory. According to Amnesty International, there is a dangerous trend towards the erosion of human rights in the USA -- a situation illustrated by some of the issues highlighted in a comprehensive report published to accompany the launch of the campaign: A widespread and persistent pattern of police brutality: Police abuse is such a widespread problem in the USA, that millions of dollars are paid out every year to alleged victims. Reports of discriminatory treatment by police toward racial and ethnic minorities are common, and black people arrested for minor offences, for instance, appear particularly liable to suffer police brutality. The vast majority of complaints relate to police officers beating people during arrests, searches, traffic stops or street incidents --specially in inner cities with large minority groups Many suspects in police custody have died while forced face down in restraints -- most often when being "hogtied" with wrists and ankles tied together. While a number of police departments have now banned this method, others continue to use it. Endemic physical and sexual violence against prisoners: The USA's current response to crime centres on the imposition of harsher punishments, and the country now has one of the largest prison populations in the world. Some of the larger prison units show a high level of inmate on inmate violence -- with guards at times inciting attacks or not acting to prevent them. Inmates have also been beaten by guards and subjected to sexual abuse, including rape -- a form of torture. A particularly disturbing development is the growth of high-tech security units, where prisoners -- including pregnant women -- are placed in long-term or even permanent isolation. Prisoners, many of them mentally ill are frequently placed in mechanical restraints four hours or days on end. Despite being outlawed under international standards, shackling of prisoners -- including their transportation in leg irons -- is widespread in the US prison system. In some jurisdictions pregnant women have been shackled. Not all sectors of society are equally affected by this, however. In a country still struggling to eradicate racial discrimination, over 60 per cent of prisoners come from racial minorities. Up to one third of all young black men are in jail or prison, or on parole or probation. The death penalty - An arbitrary, unfair and racist punishment: The death penalty is now a political campaigning tool in the USA, and it is being applied in a racist way. Black and white people are the victims of violent crime in roughly equal numbers, yet 82 per cent of people executed since 1977 have been convicted of killing white victims. Factors like aggravating circumstances cannot explain this disparity. In violation of international standards, execution of the mentally impaired and juvenile offenders continue in the USA. In addition, at a time when there is a worrying escalation in the number of executions, many capital defendants are not receiving adequate legal representation. Most US states have now adopted execution by lethal injection, claiming that it is "more humane". But the cruelty of this punishment is inescapable, regardless of the method used, and in many cases, inmates have suffered prolonged deaths due medical staff having trouble finding a vein to inject the poison, or through having to wait with needles in their arms while last minutes appeals were heard. Incarceration of asylum-seekers: Growing numbers of people fleeing persecution are finding themselves behind bars after arriving in the USA. Asylum-seekers have committed no crime, yet they are often held in jails and prisons with criminal prisoners. Unlike criminal suspects, they are often denied bail and do not know when they will be released. Asylum-seekers held in these conditions are not differentiated from other inmates: they are often held in inhumane conditions, strip searched, shackled, chained and verbally or physically abused. They are often prevented from meeting with their lawyers, interpreters and asylum organizations. Women asylum-seekers are more likely than men to be detained with criminals, and there is a lack of alternative accommodation for children -- who according to international law should be kept together with their families and never be held in detention. Reluctance to abide by international standards: The level of human rights protection recognized in US law often falls short of some of the minimum standards set down in international treaties, and important internationally recognized rights and standards are not always reflected in domestic US law -- like the ban on using the death penalty against juvenile offenders. People in the USA whose rights have been violated are also being denied the possibility of recourse to international protection mechanisms. Amnesty International will call on the US authorities to put an end to their selective approach in the application of international law at home and abroad, and to adjust the country's legislation to conform with international standards. In particular, the USA should ratify without reservations all international human rights treaties -- specially the Convention on the Eradication of all Forms of Discrimination against Women, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the American Convention on Human Rights -- and withdraw its reservations to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention Against Torture. "How can a country that has so far refused to ratify international human rights treaties destined to protect the welfare of women and children, for instance, aim to set an example to the international community in the area of human rights?" Mr Sané asked. "How can the international community send a clear message that acts of genocide and other crimes against humanity will not be tolerated when a world leading country like the USA is actively opposing the creation of a truly independent and effective International Criminal Court?" Amnesty International's call for greater respect for human rights in the USA is part of a campaign to promote those rights for all people in all countries. The organization stresses that by failing to deliver to many of their people the wealth of civil and political rights guaranteed under international law -- as well as the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights -- the US federal and state authorities are also failing to recognize the importance of those rights in other countries. The USA has little room for complacency in terms of human rights, both in terms of some sectors of US society and of the country's role in the international arena," Mr Sané explained. "It is time for the US government to put an end to its selective approach to human rights, and to start to adjust its conduct and legislation to conform with international human rights principles," Mr Sané said. "Starting today, more than a million Amnesty International members worldwide will be calling for a renewed commitment by the US authorities to placing humans rights protection at the heart of US domestic and foreign policy," Pierre Sané concluded. ###
Human rights in the USA: World leader in high tech repressionThousands of people across the USA are falling victim to human rights violations, often carried out with high tech repression tools: electro-shock devices, chemical sprays and lethal injections, Amnesty International said today, as it launched its first worldwide campaign on the country’s human rights situation. "Law enforcement officials in the USA -- from police to prison staff -- have a huge array of equipment at their disposal which at times is contributing to human rights violations," said Pierre Sané, Amnesty International's Secretary General. "A greater focus on the punishment rather than the rehabilitation of prisoners has led to cuts in programs, facilities and treatments in many prisons -- with prison authorities turning to other ways of controlling prisoners." This trend has been marked by the use of mechanical restraints -- four-point, steel-framed restraint chairs and boards, chains or leg-irons -- plus a growth in the use of high tech repression methods, some of which are cruel, painful and often life-threatening. They range from supermaximum security units, stun guns and tasers to execution by lethal injection. "As part of our campaign, we'll be calling on the US authorities to immediately ban the use of stun belts -- one of the most worrying electro-shock devices," Mr Sané said. "The stun belt is, by its very nature, an instrument designed to instill fear and pain. Even if the button is never pressed, the constant threat of such a jolt is inhumane -- and one of the most patent symbols of the current dangerous trend towards the erosion of basic human rights in the USA." The use of stun belts came to the fore in June this year, when a California judge ordered its use against a defendant who had repeatedly interrupted her in a court proceeding. The belt --which a guard can activate at the push of a button -- inflicts a powerful electric current, causing severe pain and instant incapacitation. According to the manufacturer's literature, the belt will knock prisoners to the ground and may cause them to involuntarily defecate or urinate. Prisoners are not the only victims of these high tech methods. Police officers in some areas -- particularly California -- also resort to stun guns or tasers to incapacitate a suspect, and at least 3,000 police departments currently use pepper spray despite mounting concern about its health risks -- particularly for people with asthma or heart conditions. "Pepper spray has been cruelly used on people already restrained -- liquid pepper spray has been dabbed in the eyes of demonstrators and sprayed on the genitals of a protester -- which is tantamount to torture," Amnesty International argues. "People have died after receiving high voltage jolts from electro-shock weapons." "The US authorities must urgently review the use of pepper spray, and suspend the use of electro-shock weapons pending an independent and impartial review," Mr Sané stressed. High-tech repression methods are just part of a wide range of issues Amnesty International will be highlighting during the campaign. According to Mr Sané, "sanctions against those responsible for human rights abuses in the USA are often inadequate, and there are clear signs that unless urgent steps are taken, the rights of people in the country -- particularly those of minority groups -- will be further eroded." Amnesty International has published a comprehensive report of the current human rights situation in the USA, to accompany the launch of the campaign. The report highlights: A widespread and persistent pattern of police brutality: Police abuse is such a widespread problem in the USA that millions of dollars are paid out every year to alleged victims. Reports of discriminatory treatment by police toward racial and ethnic minorities are common, and black people arrested for minor offences, for instance, appear particularly liable to suffer police brutality. The vast majority of complaints relate to police officers beating people during arrests, searches, traffic stops or street incidents --especially in inner cities with large minority groups Many suspects in police custody have died while forced face down in restraints -- most often when being "hogtied" with wrists and ankles tied together. While a number of police departments have now banned this method, others continue to use it. Endemic physical and sexual violence against prisoners: The USA's current response to crime centres on the imposition of harsher punishments, and the country now has one of the largest prison populations in the world. Some prisons show a high level of inmate on inmate violence -- with guards at times inciting attacks or not acting to prevent them. Inmates have also been beaten by guards and subjected to sexual abuse, including rape --a form of torture. A particularly disturbing development is the growth of high-tech security units, where inmates are placed in long-term or even permanent isolation. Prisoners, many of them mentally ill, are frequently placed in mechanical restrains for hours or days on end. Despite being outlawed under international standards, shackling of prisoners -- including their transportation in leg irons -- is widespread in the US prison system. In some jurisdictions pregnant women have been shackled. Not all sectors of society are equally affected by this, however. In a country still struggling to eradicate racial discrimination, more than 60 per cent of prisoners come from racial minorities. Up to one third of all young black men are in jail or prison, or on parole or probation. The death penalty - An arbitrary, unfair and racist punishment: The death penalty is now a political campaigning tool in the USA, and it is being applied in a racist way. Black and white people are the victims of violent crime in roughly equal numbers, yet 82 per cent of people executed since 1977 have been convicted of killing white victims. Factors like aggravating circumstances cannot explain this disparity. In violation of international standards, executions of the mentally impaired and juvenile offenders continue in the USA. In addition, at a time when there is a worrying escalation in the number of executions, many capital defendants are not receiving adequate legal representation. Most US states have now adopted execution by lethal injection, claiming that it is "more humane". But the cruelty of this punishment is inescapable, regardless of the method used, and in many cases, inmates have suffered prolonged deaths due to medical staff having trouble finding a vein to inject the poison, or by having to wait with needles in their arms while last minutes appeals were heard. Incarceration of asylum-seekers: Growing numbers of people fleeing persecution are finding themselves behind bars after arriving in the USA. Asylum seekers have committed no crime, yet they are often held in jails and prisons with criminal prisoners. Unlike criminal suspects, they are often denied bail and do not know when they will be released. Asylum-seekers held in these conditions are not differentiated from other inmates: they are often held in inhumane conditions, strip searched, shackled, chained and verbally or physically abused. They are often prevented from meeting with their lawyers, interpreters and asylum organizations. Women asylum-seekers are more likely than men to be detained with criminals, and there is a lack of alternative accommodation for children -- who according to international law should be kept together with their families and never be held in detention. Arms exports -- the US contribution to human rights abuses in other countries: As the world's largest producer and exporter of arms, the US contributes to human rights abuse by supplying equipment and training to governments and armed groups known to have carried out torture, political killings and other abuses. The type of electro-shock weapons exported by the USA have been used to torture victims around the world, and are now banned in some Western European countries and in Canada. In the USA, too little is being done to ensure that such equipment is not being used to commit human rights violations -- current US laws and procedures are just not addressing the problem. "Given its prominent role in the global arms market, the USA should aim for full transparency regarding all transfers, and adopt a Code of Conduct aimed at stopping torturing countries from acquiring both the technology and the know-how," Mr Sané said. "Any transfer likely to contribute to human rights abuses should be immediately stopped." Reluctance to abide by international standards: Despite the USA's leading role in establishing the international system of human rights protection, it has been reluctant to submit itself to international scrutiny and to abide by the same minimum standards that it demands from other countries. In addition, the level of human rights protection recognized in US law often falls short of some of the minimum standards set down in international treaties, and important internationally recognized rights and standards are not always reflected in domestic US law -- like the ban on using the death penalty against juvenile offenders. Amnesty International will call on the US authorities to put an end to their selective approach in the application of international law at home and abroad, and to adjust the country's legislation to conform with international standards. In particular, the USA should ratify without reservations all international human rights treaties -- specially those that protect women and children -- and withdraw its reservations to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention Against Torture. "The US federal and state authorities are failing to deliver to many of their people the wealth of civil and political rights guaranteed under international law and the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Amnesty International will be actively campaigning to obtain from the US authorities a renewed commitment to placing humans rights protection at the heart of US domestic and foreign policy," Pierre Sané concluded. ###
Selected statistics* on human rights violation in the USA*Taken from Rights for All -- Amnesty International's report on human rights in the United States of America and Amnesty International's 1998 Annual Report Prison Conditions In mid-1997 there were 1.7 million people incarcerated in US prisons and jails, more than three times the 1980 figure. (Chapter IV, p.56) Over 60 percent of prisoners are from racial and ethnic minority backgrounds. (Chapter IV, p.56) Asylum-Seekers Death Penalty In 1997 the USA carried out 74 executions -- the highest number for four decades. Only China, Saudi Arabia and Iran were known to have executed more prisoners. Over 3,300 people await their deaths at the hands of US authorities. (Chapter VI, pp. 99-100) More than 100 countries have abolished the death penalty in law or in practice. (Chapter VI, p.100) By 1998, laws allowing for the use of the death penalty existed in 38 states in the USA. (Chapter VI, p.101) As of June 1998, 43 women remained on death row in 15 states. (Chapter VI, p.105) In late 1994 the District Attorney of Oklahoma City campaigned for re-election on his record of having "sent 44 murderers to death row." (Chapter VI, p.106) Between 1908 and 1962, all those executed for rape were black, although only 55 percent of those imprisoned for rape were black. (Chapter VI, p.109) Blacks and whites in the USA are the victims of murder in almost equal numbers, yet 82 percent of prisoners executed since 1977 were convicted of the murder of a white person. (Chapter VI, p.109) A recent study, made public in June 1998, found that in Philadelphia the likelihood of receiving a death sentence is nearly four times higher if the defendant is black, after taking into account aggravating factors. (Chapter VI, p.109) Since Pennsylvania reintroduced the death penalty in 1978, the authorities in Philadelphia have sentenced to death more than eight times as many blacks as whites. (Chapter VI, p.109) Blacks make up just 12 percent of the country's population, but 42 percent of the nation’s condemned prisoners. In early 1998, of the 26 people under federal sentences of death (military and civilian), only five prisoners were white. (Chapter VI, p.109) The overwhelming majority of the district attorneys and other officials who make the decision as to whether to seek the death penalty are white. (Chapter VI, p.109) In many counties, black prospective jurors are disproportionately removed from the jury pool by prosecutors during jury selection. In Georgia, six of the 12 black prisoners executed since 1983 were convicted and sentenced by all-white juries after all black nominees had been removed. (Chapter VI, p.110) In May 1998, more than 25 people were on death row in Texas for crimes they committed when under 18. (Chapter VI, p.113) The USA has executed eight juvenile offenders since 1990. (Chapter VI, p. 113) In April 1998, Nebraska became the 12th state to adopt a law banning the execution of mentally retarded prisoners. (Chapter VI, p.115) Twenty-four states in the USA allow for the use of the death penalty for crimes committed under the age of 18. (Chapter VI, p.122) More than 350 prisoners have been executed since 1990. Some were children when the crimes were committed: some were severely mentally impaired. Another 3,300 people are on death row, put there by a system whose application of the death penalty is arbitrary and subject to racial and class bias. (Chapter IX, p. 149) The number executed since the end of the moratorium on the death penalty in 1977 is 467. Thirty-five people have been executed in 1998 (as of July 1998). (Amnesty International's 1998 Annual Report, p. 350) Of 62 foreign nationals known to be under sentence of death, most had effectively been denied access to consular assistance -- in violation of international law. (Amnesty International's 1998 Annual Report, p. 350) ### |
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