American justice ranked alongside world's most repressive regimes

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/politics/story.jsp?story=509209

America is just one of just four countries responsible for 84 per cent of executions around the world last year, a report released yesterday by Amnesty International said.

The report groups the US with China, Iran and Vietnam as one of the countries responsible for the overwhelming majority of executions worldwide. It puts America ahead of Saudi Arabia, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo for known executions ­ although in many countries complete figures are unknown. The US and China were the only countries in the world to execute child offenders last year, the report says.

At least 1,146 people were executed in 2003, down from 1,526 in 2002 and 3,048 in 2001, according to Amnesty's figures. China headed the list, far ahead of all other countries, with at least 726 confirmed executions.

Unlike many of the other countries mentioned, there is no secrecy about executions in the US, and complete figures are known.

1) Are these per capita figures or uncorrected totals? How then can our number of excecutions be compared with say Iran, who's population smaller than our, nor China, who is so much more populated than we?

Further, as was noted, not all nations keep as good and relatively honest (though the Busheviks are changing that) as we.

The headline is misleading and our non-lethal system of justice, even as it is being eroded and manipulated and rigged by the Busheviks, is still better than most places.

Does that mean we should be complacent and unconcerned? HELL, NO!

and yes, the article is very much about the death penalty. However, justice is about much much more than that.

"our non-lethal system of justice, even as it is being eroded and manipulated and rigged by the Busheviks, is still better than most places"
:shrug:

The US has a greater percentage of it's population incarcerated than just about any other country. Most of this is because of the war on drugs, which btw, locks up a hugely disproportionate number of blacks. The US justice system is abysmal!

http://www.blackcommentator.com/65/65_street_prison.html


One group is most especially targeted: Blacks are 12.3 percent of US population, but they comprise roughly half of the roughly 2 million Americans currently behind bars. Between 1980 and 2000, the number of black men in jail or prison grew fivefold (500 percent), to the point where, as the Justice Policy Institute (2002) recently reported, there were more black men behind bars than enrolled in colleges or universities in the US. On any given day, Chaiken reported, 30 percent of African-American males ages 20 to 29 are under correctional supervision – either in jail or prison or on probation or parole.

It seems that uncorrected totals are too often used instead of per capita figures in the name of sensationalism (see Moore's Bowling for Columbine). Capital punishment should be abolished everywhere, but this cause is ill served by shoddy journalism.

"The US's defiant stance over executing those convicted for crimes committed as children is one particular area of concern, sending a dangerous message around the world. We call on the US to abandon child-offender executions as a first measure towards ending all judicial killing."

The report noted that 113 prisoners had been released from death row in America since 1973 because evidence had emerged that they were innocent of the crimes of which they were convicted ­ raising the possibility that other innocent men and women went to their deaths.

Evidence often emerged of police misconduct, use of unreliable witness testimony or confessions, and inadequate defence representation.

The report highlighted the case of Kenny Richey, a Scot who has spent 17 years on death row in Ohio, convicted of arson and murder. Richey is appealing against his death sentence, and attempting to have fresh evidence heard in an attempt to prove his innocence.

Kate Allen of Amnesty said of Richey: "His case is one of the most compelling cases of apparent innocence that human rights campaigners have ever seen."
(snip)

The article stated Amnesty International has asked for a world-wide moratorium on executions. Lotsa luck getting that here, now that we've had a real taste of revenge killings, even having a pResident who mocked a condemned prisoner, Karla Faye Tucker, begging for her life.


Karla Faye Tucker, Texas

Thanks for the comments. Gives some perspective to some of us Cuba-ologists (and the anti Cuba-ologists too, I hope).

---

... because our Bonesman is better than their Bonesman

What else could he do, his mother caught him playing with himself and slapped his hand.

(snip)
The report noted that 113 prisoners had been released from death row in America since 1973 because evidence had emerged that they were innocent of the crimes of which they were convicted ­ raising the possibility that other innocent men and women went to their deaths.

Evidence often emerged of police misconduct, use of unreliable witness testimony or confessions, and inadequate defence representation.
(snip)

The facts do speak for themselves in this case. No shoddy journalism here, obviously.

America has SERIOUS problems.