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ResolutionNumber:
D3
Year: 2002 Title: LETHAL INJECTION Resolved: Therefore be it resolved that AIUSA immediately re-affirm, in the strongest language possible, its unequivocal and total opposition to executions anywhere in the world and that it equally vigorously denounce any and all methods of execution as inhumane, cruel, and degrading. Implementation: AIUSA will explicitly and unequivocally denounce (in its literature, publications, anti-death penalty resources, and press releases where appropriate) the use of lethal injection in all instances and continue to educate the public and AIUSA membership about its inherently inhumane aspects. AIUSA will employ its resources to destroy the myth of “putting people to sleep” that prevails within much of the general public and continue to condemn the use of lethal injection as completely antithetical to any evolving standard of decency.
Specifically, a formal request should be made to the death penalty researcher at the International Secretariat to make it a standard part of the recommendations section of Urgent Actions that all forms of executions including those by lethal injection are inhumane.
Additionally, an outright condemnation of the use of lethal injection should become a standard part of the clemency appeal letters signed by Executive Director, Bill Schultz, that the PADP sends out for every scheduled execution.
A letter should be sent to either the death penalty researcher or the medical researcher at the IS requesting that she/he issue an updated report on lethal injection and the many medical and ethical problems associated with its use.
The PADP will continue to work on and expand its ongoing efforts (in coalition with other abolitionist groups such as the NCADP) to pressure drug companies to bar the supply of the lethal injection drug cocktail to prisons.
Press Release For Immediate Release: Contact: Jen Corlew Monday, February 3, 2003 202-544-0200 x302
Amnesty International Provides New Analysis of Texas' Death Penalty as State Prepares to Execute 300th Inmate
(Washington, DC) -- Texas' death penalty system is marred by widespread geographic disparities, issues of innocence, racial bias, and the shameful practice of executing juvenile offenders, said Amnesty International USA (AIUSA) today as Texas prepares to execute its 300th inmate since death penalty reinstatement in 1976. Amnesty International's new report, Texas - In a World of Its Own as 300th Execution Looms, highlights legal precedents and recent cases that illustrate the inherent flaws in the application of the death penalty by the US's leading executioner.
"Texas faces waning foreign business investment because of its shocking human rights record," Amnesty International USA warned. "Europe is the foremost foreign investor in Texas, yet European shareholders are increasingly pressuring companies to restrict investment in executing states. The affect of European repugnance to the death penalty could soon be felt in bank accounts across Texas."
In a letter to former Texas Governor George Bush, the European Parliament Delegation for Relations with the United States highlighted investment concerns in Texas. Texas also provoked an international outcry last fall by executing Mexican citizen Javier Suarez Medina despite an appeal by Mexican President Vicente Fox. The Mexican government has responded with a lawsuit filed with the International Court of Justice, seeking to halt the death sentences of all Mexican nationals on US death rows, including 16 in Texas. Today, as approximately 450 men and women await lethal injection in Texas, 111 countries have abolished the death penalty in law or practice.
Texas’ capital punishment system exemplifies the findings that have emerged in recent death penalty studies conducted in Maryland and Illinois that reveal that the death penalty is determined by a geographic lottery. While Texas accounts for less than ten percent of the US population, it has been responsible for more than one-third of the national judicial death toll since 1976. Furthermore, Harris County prosecutors sentenced 35 percent of Texas' death row population, yet that county accounts for only 15 percent of the state's population.
"If Harris County were a state, it would rank second with Virginia behind Texas in the number of executed inmates in 2002," the organization said. The total number of executions last year in Texas was 33, with four from Harris County. Virginia had four total executions.
Texas has released seven death row inmates since 1987 after evidence of their innocence emerged. Between them, the men spent 70 years on death row. Racial disparity, another notable flaw in the application of the ultimate punishment, also taints the proceedings in Texas courtrooms. Since reinstatement of the death penalty, 79 percent of Texas prisoners were executed for crimes against white victims. None of those executed were white people convicted of killing African-Americans.
John Jackie Elliot, a British citizen, is scheduled to be executed on February 4th. If the execution is carried out, he will be the 296th person executed in Texas since 1976. Other executions scheduled for this month include: Henry Dunn, February 6th, the 297th person to be executed; Gregory Van Alstyne, February 18th, the 298th person to be executed; Richard Williams, February 25th, the 299th person to be executed; and Michael Johnson, February 26th, the 300th person to be executed.
Amnesty International activists worldwide are sending letters of support to Texas legislators who are introducing bills to restrict, suspend, or halt the use of the death penalty in the state. With over 1.7 million members worldwide and 300,000 members in the United States, Amnesty International is the largest grassroots human rights movement in the world.
For a copy of Texas - In a World of Its Own as 300th Execution Looms, contact jcorlew@aiusa.org
A request was made to the death penalty researcher at the IS on the adoption of language that made it a standard part of the Urgent Actions that all forms of executions including those by lethal injection are inhumane. However, according to the IS, given that an Urgent Action is targeted towards one individual case in which the specific mitigating factors of that case are highlighted in an effort to garner clemency, it would not be particularly useful to include such language as a standard component in every UA. Additionally, since such letters are generally targeted to the Governor or the Board of Pardons and Paroles, they have no authority to eliminate the use of lethal injection, given that it would be an action that would need to be taken by the legislature. Moreover, such language would also have the potential of detracting from powerful mitigating factors specific to certain cases (juveniles, mental illness, racial bias etc). Also, given that any petition-writer can incorporate specific language condemning lethal injection into his or her respective UA, it would be more appropriate for an individual writer to do so rather than have it be in every UA.
The PADP has continued to work with BERG to pressure drug companies to bar the supply of the lethal injection drug cocktail to prisons. Some of the companies contacted this past year include: o Abbott Labs o American Pharmaceutical Partners o AmerisourceBergen o B. Braun Medical o Baxter International o Cardinal Health o SICOR o Wyeth o Sodexho
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