UN Report Singles Out Texas and Alabama

Finally in today's big news section, we have the UN human rights report.  The UN News Centre has, "UN rights expert calls on United States to ensure death penalty is applied fairly."

The United States should take immediate steps to ensure that the death penalty is applied fairly and justly in states where it is practised, a United Nations human rights expert said today, voicing particular concern that officials in the state of Alabama “seem strikingly indifferent to the risk of executing innocent people.”

Philip Alston, the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, also called for the country’s military justice system to be improved so that victims of possibly unlawful killings can receive justice.

In a preliminary statement issued after completing an official visit to the US, where he met with federal and state officials, judges and civil society groups in Washington, DC, New York, Alabama and Texas, Mr. Alston said he was disturbed by how authorities in Alabama and Texas had responded to recognized flaws in their systems.

“When we are talking about a situation in which innocent people have probably been executed, you would expect a greater sense of urgency about reforming the criminal justice system,” he said.

“In Texas, there is at least significant recognition that reforms are needed,” Mr. Alston said, noting that in Alabama officials give a range of standard responses to criticisms, “most of which are characterized by a refusal to engage with the facts.

“The reality is that the system is simply not designed to turn up cases of innocence, however compelling they might be. It is entirely possible that Alabama has already executed innocent people, but officials would rather deny than confront flaws in the criminal justice system.”

"Alabama executions 'highly problematic": UN envoy," is the Reuters report.

Alabama has the highest U.S. per-capita rate of executions, which was the reason Philip Alston, U.N. Human Rights Council special envoy on executions, went there during an official visit to the United States. He also went to Texas, which has the highest number of executions and prisoners on death row.

Speaking to reporters at U.N. headquarters in New York, Alston said a number of officials in Texas acknowledged that innocent people might have been executed and expressed a desire to improve their criminal justice system.

"In Alabama, the situation remains highly problematic," he said. "Government officials seem strikingly indifferent to the risk of executing innocent people and have a range of standard responses, most of which are characterized by a refusal to engage with the facts."

And:

According to Alston, a major problem is that in Alabama, elected judges have the right to change jury decisions on sentencing. Most changes in sentences are from life sentences to the death penalty, he said.

He added that the judges there appeared to be under political pressure to execute criminals.

"Alabama should relieve judges of this invidious role by repealing the law permitting judicial override," Alston said. "Instead juries should be permitted to play their historical role of protecting individual rights."

People in and out of government in both Alabama and Texas acknowledged the need for improved programs to provide criminal defense lawyers for people who cannot afford them, but only half-measures in both states were being discussed, he said.

There were some positive moves in Texas, however, which he said were "a step in the right direction."

"UN investigator blasts US justice system, death penalty," is the AFP report, via Google News.

A senior UN human rights investigator on Monday criticized the US justice system as flawed and called on authorities to ensure it does not execute innocent people.

Philip Alston, the United Nations special rapporteur on extra-judicial, summary and arbitrary executions, blasted the administration of President George W. Bush for lack of transparency at the Guantanamo detention camp, and slammed state authorities in Alabama and Texas for being "strikingly indifferent" to the risk of putting innocent people to death.

"At present, a great deal of time and energy is being spent trying to expedite executions" in the United States, Alston told a press conference after a two-week fact-finding tour.

"A better priority would be to analyze whether the criminal justice system is failing in capital cases and why innocent people are being sentenced to death."

Alston, an Australian, wrapped up a two-week tour of the United States including Washington DC, New York, Alabama and Texas, during which he met government officials, judges, civil society groups and victims and witnesses.

He reserved a special barrage of criticism for Alabama, which has the highest per capita rate of executions in the country, and Texas, which has the largest number of executions as well as prisoners on death row.

"U.N. wants U.S. to execute fairly," is the UPI report.

Alston said that while in Texas "there is at least significant recognition that reforms are needed," most of the responses Alabama officials had to criticisms were "characterized by a refusal to engage with the facts."

"It is entirely possible that Alabama has already executed innocent people, but officials would rather deny than confront flaws in the criminal justice system," he said.

Alston called for a multi-pronged approach to reforming the criminal justice systems in Alabama and Texas, and for Congress to enact laws allowing federal courts to review all issues in state and federal death penalty cases on their merits.

A news release by the UN Department of Public Information is here.

There was a need for greater transparency and accountability in the United States in the criminal justice processes that led to the death penalty, Philip Alston, United Nations Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, told correspondents at a Headquarters press conference today.

“Generally, it’s not laws and procedures that are lacking, but it is an openness and a preparedness to provide access to key information that is missing,” Mr. Alston said, introducing the preliminary findings of his country visit to the United States, from 16 to 30 June.  As an independent observer for the Human Rights Council in his individual capacity, he explained that his mandate was to ensure that due process guarantees were protected in the application of the death penalty.

During his United States visit, he said, most of his interviews with national officials in Washington, D.C., and state officials in Texas and Alabama, had been constructive.  However, instead of obtaining access to the information he needed, he had often been assured that there was accountability. Whether or not it existed, private or internal accountability could not take the place of genuine public accountability.  “A Government open and accountable to its people is the foundational premise of a democratic State, and one certainly expects no less in the United States,” he said.

Unease over the death penalty in the United States had been sparked by, among other factors, the exoneration of 129 individuals waiting on death row since 1973, he said.  He had visited Alabama because it had the highest per capita rate of executions in the country, and Texas because it had the largest number of executions and prisoners on death row.  He had found limited openness in Texas and little openness in Alabama on the issue.

Clearly, there was something wrong with the way the death penalty was being administered in both states, he maintained.  Among other problems he had found were the political pressure felt by judges to apply the death penalty, the uneven quality of the indigent defence system, an impression of bias in applying the penalty as regarded the race of both the victim and the defendant, and the breach of international legal obligations regarding defendants from other countries.

At the national level, he said, there was no way that fair trials could be conducted for the six “alien enemy combatants” detained at Guantanamo Bay and charged with capital offences under the Military Commissions Act.  By all indications, they would not meet the due process standards required for a fair trial under international humanitarian and human rights law, with the defence highly constricted in regard to access to counsel and evidence.  In addition, evidence not normally admissible, such as coerced statements, could be used in the trials.