Les remito este informe de AI acerca del estado de las prisiones en USA.
Solo para satisfaccion del amigo PIO, aqui tambien se cuezen habas. - es
un poco largo -
Martha
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Subject: USA: Betraying the Young -- Children in the US Justice System
* News Release Issued by the International Secretariat of Amnesty
International *
News Service: 219/98
AI INDEX: AMR 51/92/98
18 NOVEMBER 1998
USA
Betraying the Young -- Children in the US Justice System
"Each Sunday I visit my son, but it is not only his pain and
helplessness I see. I overhear horrible stories of the past week's
violence as the children try to explain fresh cuts and bruises to their
parents." (Mother of a boy at a juvenile correctional facility in Maine,
USA. 1998)
Thousands of children in the USA accused or convicted of criminal
offenses are subjected to human rights abuses ranging from brutal
physical force, lengthy periods in solitary confinement and long periods
in jail before trial, to imprisonment with adults, a new Amnesty
International report states.
According to the report (Betraying the young: Children in the US justice
system AI Index AMR 51/60/98) , many children are incarcerated for very
minor offenses when other action could or should have been taken.
-a10year-old-boy handcuffed, arrested and locked up for allegedly
kicking his mother;
- a 13 year-old-girl detained on suspicion of possessing marijuana,
which turned out to be oregano,
- a 16 year-old-girl detained for transgressing her father's rules
(throwing objects in her room and not attending school);
- an 12 year-old-boy detained for making a harassing telephone
call.
In some jurisdictions, incarceration is regarded as an appropriate
punishment for even minor infringements of the law by very young
children, such as fighting in school.
Excessive use of incarceration is a matter of grave concern because of
its inherent risks to the physical and mental integrity of children, and
its potential for negative influence rather than rehabilitation. The
harm that children suffer as a consequence of incarceration may be
permanent.
>From the end of the last century, the USA was a world leader in the
development of a legal system specifically for children, with a mandate
to promote their welfare. Today, however, even within the juvenile
justice system children's well-being is often placed at risk rather than
being protected.
Many custodial facilities for children in the USA are overcrowded and
unable to provide adequate mental health and other important services.
In recent years, there have been many reports that staff in juvenile
facilities have punched, kicked, shackled, sprayed with chemicals and
even used electro-shock devices against children in their care.
An increasing number of children are being prosecuted as adults, often
for non-violent offenses. Once in the adult criminal justice system they
may be held for months in jail before they are tried, and they are often
denied access to education, exercise and other programs. Over four
thousand children are in adult prisons where they are notoriously at
risk of physical and sexual abuse, as well as the corrupting influence
of people with long criminal histories.
And at every stage of the justice system, racial and ethnic minority
children are present in numbers greatly out of proportion to their
numbers in the community. "The evidence strongly indicates that one
reason for this is discrimination on the part of law enforcement and
justice system personnel," Amnesty International said.
The most disturbing aspect is that a number of the violations are
actually sanctioned by US laws. In particular, the US executes people
for crimes they committed when they were children, in flagrant violation
of international standards.
Three such prisoners - all of them borderline mentally retarded - have
been executed in the USA in 1998. Amnesty International knows of no
other such executions anywhere else in the world during the year.
The USA has executed nine juvenile offenders since 1990, half the known
world total in the same period. The other nine executions were carried
out in five countries -- Iran, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and
Yemen. Over 70 prisoners remain on death row in the USA for crimes
committed when they were 16 or 17 years old.
The USA has consistently refused to implement fully the protection of
the human rights of children provided by international law.
"Children in the USA should be no less entitled to this protection than
children of countries around the world," Amnesty International stressed.
"We urge the US federal government to ratify without reservations all
international standards for the protection of children."
"We also call on all US authorities to ensure that their laws, policies
and practices are fully consistent with these standards," Amnesty
International said.
Definition of who is a "child"
Under international and national laws, 18 is the most common age below
which special protection is deemed to be necessary and desirable for
people accused or convicted of violating criminal laws. All
international standards related to the death penalty define a child as
someone under 18 years of age.
ENDS.../
Amnesty International, International Secretariat, 1 Easton Street,
WC1X 8DJ, London, United Kingdom
