Human rights and human wrongs: Is the United States death penalty system inconsistent with international human rights law?

Fordham Law Review

Volumn 67, Issue 6, 1999, Pages 2793-2824

  Allmand, Warren ^b   Bright, Stephen B ^b   Carter, Rubin ^b   Koenig, Dorean Marguerite ^a   Schabas, William A ^b   Seriti, W L ^b  

^a Thomas M Cooley Law School   (United States)

^b NONE

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EID: 0347031876     PISSN: 0015704X     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Article

References (151)

1. See Cesare Beccaria, On Crimes and Punishment 42-52 (Bobbs-Merrill Co. 1963) (1764).
2. See id. at 43-44.
3. See Songer v. Wainwright, 758 F.2d 552, 552 (11th Cir. 1995).
4. See Songer v. Wainwright, 769 F.2d 1488, 1488 (11th Cir. 1995) (en banc).
5. See Stanford v. Kentucky, 492 U.S. 361, 366 (1989).
6. See infra notes 81-87 and accompanying text.
7. Stephen B. Bright is the recipient of the ABA's 1998 Thurgood Marshall Award presented by the Section of Individual Rights and Responsibilities. Mr. Bright has served as the Director of the Southern Center for Human Rights in Atlanta, Georgia, for more than fifteen years. The Center is a public interest law firm that represents clients in criminal trials, prison civil rights actions, and death penalty cases. In 1988, Mr. Bright successfully argued Amadeo v. Zant, 486 U.S. 214 (1988), which resulted in the United States Supreme Court's vacating a conviction and death sentence because of racial discrimination. Mr. Bright also has successfully challenged improperly imposed death sentences in several other cases.
8. See NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Death Row USA Reporter: Current Service 1239 (1998).
9. See Death Penalty Info. Ctr., Death Penalty Information Center (visited Mar. 25, 1999) 〈http://www.essential.org/dpic/dpicexec.html〉 [hereinafter Death Penalty Information Center].
10. See Death Penalty Info. Ctr., State Executions (visited Mar. 25, 1999) 〈http:// www.essential.org/dpic/dpicreg.html〉.
11. See Armando Villafranca, A Man of Conviction, Houston Chron., Nov. 29, 1998, at A1.
12. See Death Penalty Information Center, supra note 11.
13. See Eric Prokosch, Human Rights v. The Death Penalty: Abolition and Restriction in Law and Practice, in Europe: A Death-Penalty-Free Zone (forthcoming 2000) (manuscript at 1, on file with Fordham Law Review).
14. See id. (manuscript at 1).
15. See id. (manuscript at 9).
16. See id. (manuscript at 9).
17. See id. (manuscript at 9).
18. See Amnesty Int'l USA, The USA to Confirm its Position as World Leader in Killing Child Offenders (last modified Jan. 25, 1999) 〈http://www.amnestyusa.org/ news/1999/25101099.htm〉.
19. See id.
20. See Convention on the Rights of the Child, G.A. Res. 25, U.N. GAOR, 44th Sess., Supp. No. 49, at 171, U.N. Doc. A/44/49 (1989) (noting age limit).
21. See Curtis A. Bradley, The Treaty Power and American Federalism, 97 Mich. L. Rev. 390, 402 (1998).
22. See Richard Boudreaux, To Italy, A U.S. Convict Symbolized the Crime of Capital Punishment, L.A. Times, Aug. 17, 1997, at A11.
23. See Marcia Coyle, Are 65 Illegally on Death Row in U.S.?, Nat'l L.J., Apr. 27, 1998, at A16.
24. See id.
25. See Brooke A. Masters & Joan Biskupic, Killer Executed Despite Pleas; World Tribunal, State Department Had Urged Delay, Wash. Post, Apr. 15, 1998, at B1.
26. See Breard v. Greene, 118 S. Ct. 1352, 1356 (1998).
27. See Masters & Biskupic, supra note 27.
28. See Mike Carter, Commission Censures Execution; Hi Fi Killer's Rights Violated, Group Says; Commission Censures U.S. For Execution, Salt Lake Trib., Mar. 6, 1998, at B1.
29. See Andrews v. Shulsen, 485 U.S. 919, 922 (1988) (Marshall, J., dissenting from the denial of certiorari).
30. See Question of the Violation of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms in Any Part of the World, with Particular Reference to Colonial and Other Dependant Countries and Territories: Extrajudicial, Summary, or Arbitrary Executions, Report of the Special Rapporteur, U.N. ESCOR, Hum. Rts. Comm., 54th Sess., Provisional Agenda Item 10, U.N. Doc. E/CN.4/1998/68* (1997) [hereinafter Report of the Special Rapporteur].
31. See International Commission of Jurists, Administration of the Death Penalty in the United States: Report of a Mission (1996).
32. John Makeig, Asleep on the Job?: Slaying Trial Boring, Lawyer Says, Houston Chron., Aug. 14, 1992, at A35.
33. See id.
34. See McFarland v. State, 928 S.W.2d 482, 494 (Tex. Crim. App. 1996) (en banc).
35. See id. at 505 n.20.
36. Paul M. Barrett, Lawyer's Fast Work on Death Cases Raises Doubts About System, Wall St. J., Sept. 7, 1994, at A1.
37. 901 S.W.2d 456 (Tex. Crim. App. 1995) (en banc).
38. But see id. at 457 & n.1 (Maloney, J., dissenting) (quoting testimony of clerk of court that "defense counsel was asleep on several occasions on several days over the course of the proceedings" and "was asleep for long periods of time during the questioning of witnesses").
39. See David R. Dow, The State, the Death Penalty, and Carl Johnson, 37 B.C. L. Rev. 691, 694-95 (1996) (describing case of Carl Johnson, who was executed by Texas even though his lawyer slept through much of proceedings).
40. 428 U.S. 153 (1976).
41. See id. at 207.
42. 408 U.S. 238, 239-40 (1972).
43. 384 U.S. 436 (1966).
44. 466 U.S. 668 (1984).
45. See Fugate v. Turpin, 8 F. Supp. 2d 1383, 1388 (M.D. Ga. 1998).
46. See Ga. Super. Ct. R. 44.6, 44.9, 44.12 (1999).
47. Transcript of hearing of Sept. 12, 1996, at 2-3, Gibson v. Turpin, Super. Ct. of Butts Co., Ga., No. 95-V-648 (on file with author).
48. Id. at 67.
49. The Georgia Supreme Court upheld the denial of counsel and the denial of the petition. See Gibson v. Turpin, No. S97R1412, 1999 WL 79655, at *10 (Ga. Feb. 22, 1999).
50. See Stephen B. Bright, Counsel for the Poor: The Death Sentence not for the Worst Crime but for the Worst Lawyer, 103 Yale L.J. 1835 (1994).
51. See Ala. Code § 15-12-21(d) (1995).
52. Rubin Hurricane Carter, who now makes his home in Toronto, spent almost twenty years in prison for a crime he did not commit. About to fight for the world middle-weight boxing championship, Mr. Carter (along with John Artis) was arrested, convicted, and sentenced to death for the 1966 murder of three whites in a New Jersey bar. In 1976, the New Jersey Supreme Court overturned the conviction based on the recantation of the state's key witnesses, but at a new trial, where the same witness was allowed to recant his recantation, Mr. Carter was convicted again. In 1985, Mr. Carter was finally able to present his claim of innocence to a United States District Court, which ruled that Carter's conviction had been based on "racism rather than reason and concealment rather than disclosure," and Mr. Carter was freed on a writ of habeas corpus. In February 1988, the 22-year-old indictment against Mr. Carter was dismissed on the state's own motion. Mr. Carter now heads, the Toronto-based Association in Defense of the Wrongly Convicted and is an outspoken lecturer on such diverse subjects as literacy, education, and the death penalty.
53. See Coleman v. Virginia, 465 U.S. 1109, 1109 (1984).
54. See Richard Lacayo, You Don't Always Get Perry Mason, Time, June 1, 1992, at 38.
55. See Coleman v. Thompson, 504 U.S. 188, 189 (1992) (Blackmun, J. dissenting).
56. See id. (Blackmun, J., dissenting).
57. See State v. Carter, 255 A.2d 746, 748 (N.J. 1969).
58. See id.
59. See id. at 749-50.
60. Carter v. Rafferty, 621 F. Supp. 533, 560 (D.N.J. 1985).
61. Professor William A. Schabas is a Professor of International Human Rights Law at the Département des sciences juridiques of the Université du Québec à Montréal, a Department he chaired from 1994-1998. Professor Schabas is a member of the Quebec Human Rights Tribunal and is the honorary President of the Canadian Human Rights Foundation. In 1998, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada awarded Professor Schabas the Bora Laskin Research Fellowship in Human Rights. He is the author of several books, including The Abolition of the Death Penalty in International Law (1997), and is President of "Hands Off Cain," an international non-governmental organization based in Rome, Italy, dedicated to the abolition of the death penalty.
62. See supra notes 9-23 and accompanying text.
63. See State v. Makwanyane, Case No. CTT/3/94 (South Africa CC June 6 ,1995), reprinted in 16 Hum. Rts. L.J. 154 (1995); William A. Schabas, South Africa's New Constitutional Court Abolishes the Death Penalty, 16 Hum. Rts. L.J. 133, 133 (1995).
64. See State v. Makwanyane, Case No. CTT/3/94 (South Africa CC June 6 ,1995), reprinted in 16 Hum. Rts. L.J. 154 (1995); William A. Schabas, South Africa's New Constitutional Court Abolishes the Death Penalty, 16 Hum. Rts. L.J. 133, 133 (1995).
65. See Schabas, supra note 65, at 135.
66. State v. Williams, Case No. CCT/20/94 (South African CC June 9, 1995), available in Microsoft Word format at 〈http://sunsite.wits.ac.za/wits/law/judgements/ Williams.doc〉.
67. See Anatolyi V. Naumov, The New Russian Criminal Code as a Reflection of Ongoing Reforms, 8 Crim. L.F. 191, 196 (1997).
68. See Robert J. Cottrol, Submission Is not the Answer: Lethal Violence, Microcultures of Criminal Violence and the Right to Self-Defense, 69 U. Colo. L. Rev. 1029, 1036 n.16 (1998) (noting that Russia's population is 150 million people); South Africans View Illegal Immigrants as Economic Thieves, Star Trib., Nov. 27, 1998, at 33A (noting that South Africa's population is approximately 37 million).
69. See Robert J. Cottrol, Submission Is not the Answer: Lethal Violence, Microcultures of Criminal Violence and the Right to Self-Defense, 69 U. Colo. L. Rev. 1029, 1036 n.16 (1998) (noting that Russia's population is 150 million people); South Africans View Illegal Immigrants as Economic Thieves, Star Trib., Nov. 27, 1998, at 33A (noting that South Africa's population is approximately 37 million).
70. Eur. Parl. Ass'n Res. 1097, 24th sitting (June 28, 1996), available at Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Resolution No. 1097 (1996) on the Abolition of the Death Penalty in Europe (visited Apr. 9, 1999) 〈http://stars.coe.fr/ta/ta96/ eres1097.html〉.
71. See Universal Declaration of Human Rights, G.A. Res. 217A, U.N. GAOR, 3d Sess., 67th plen. mtg., art. 3, U.N. Doc. A/811 (1948), reprinted in 43 Am. J. Int'l L. 127, 127 (Supp. 1949).
72. See id. at 128.
73. See John P. Humphrey, The Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Its History, Impact and Judicial Character, in Human Rights: Thirty Years After the Universal Declaration 21-37 (B.G. Ramcharan ed., 1979).
74. See id.
75. See id.
76. See William A. Schabas, War Crimes, Crimes Against Humanity and the Death Penalty, 60 Alb. L. Rev. 733, 740 (1997).
77. Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, art. 77, U.N. Doc. A/ CONF.183/9 (1998).
78. See id.
79. See id.
80. See Agreement for the Prosecution and Punishment of Major War Criminals of the European Axis, adopted Aug. 8, 1945, art. 27, 82 U.N.T.S. 279, 300; Telford Taylor, The Anatomy of the Nuremberg Trials: A Personal Memoir 609-11 (1992).
81. See Agreement for the Prosecution and Punishment of Major War Criminals of the European Axis, adopted Aug. 8, 1945, art. 27, 82 U.N.T.S. 279, 300; Telford Taylor, The Anatomy of the Nuremberg Trials: A Personal Memoir 609-11 (1992).
82. See International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, adopted Dec. 19, 1966, art. 6, 999 U.N.T.S. 171, 175 (entered into force Mar. 23, 1976).
83. American Convention on Human Rights: Pact of San José, Costa Rica, adopted Nov. 22, 1969, art. 4., 1144 U.N.T.S. 123, 146 (entered into force July 18, 1978).
84. Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, Oct. 21, 1950, § 4, art. 68, 75 U.N.T.S. 287, 330; Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of Aug. 12, 1949, Relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts, adopted June 8, 1977, art. 77, § 5, 1125 U.N.T.S. 3, 39; Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of Aug. 12, 1949, Relating to the Protection of Victims of Non-international Armed Conflicts, adopted June 8, 1977, art. 6, § 4, 1125 U.N.T.S. 609, 614; see William A. Schabas, The Death Penalty for Crimes Committed by Persons Under Eighteen Years of Age, in Monitoring Children's Rights 603, 603-19 (Eugen Verhellen ed., 1996).
85. 28 I.L.M. 1448, 1470, art. 37, § a (1989).
86. See Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, Jan. 27, 1980, art. 18, 1155 U.N.T.S. 331.
87. Consideration of Reports Submitted by States Parties Under Article 40 of the Covenant, Comments of the Human Rights Committee, U.N. Doc. CCPR/C/79/ Add.50 (1995), § 14.
88. See Stanford v. Kentucky, 492 U.S. 361, 365 (1989).
89. See People v. Chessman, 341 P.2d 679, 699-700 (Cal. 1959).
90. Soering v. United Kingdom, 161 Eur. Ct. H.R. (ser. A), at 1 (1989).
91. See id. at 11.
92. See id. at 25.
93. See id. at 50.
94. Pratt v. Attorney Gen., 4 All. E.R. 769, 788-89 (1993).
95. See id.
96. 514 U.S. 1045 (1995).
97. See id. at 1047.
98. See id. at 1046-47.
99. 356 U.S. 86 (1958).
100. Id. at 101.
101. 428 U.S. 153 (1976).
102. See id. at 173-76.
103. See Breard v. Greene, 118 S. Ct. 1352, 1354 (1998).
104. Kathleen Kenna, Court Turns Down Faulder Appeal Bid, Toronto Star, Jan. 26, 1999, at 1.
105. Order of 9 April 1998 - Request for the Indication of Provisional Measures (visited Mar. 9, 1999) 〈http://www.icj-cij.org/icjwww/idocket/ipaus/ipausorder/ ipaus_iorder_toc.htm〉.
106. Case Concerning United States Diplomatic and Consular Staff in Tehran (U.S.A. v. Iran), 1979 I.C.J. 21 (interim order of Dec. 15, 1979).
107. See Breard, 118 S. Ct. at 1357 (Breyer, J. dissenting) (citing Brief of United States as Amicus Curiae).
108. See Extradition to California to Face Death Penalty by Cyanide Gas Asphyxiation Violates Art. 7 of the Covenant, Ng v. Canada, 15 Hum. Rts. L.J. 149, 149 (1994).
109. See id. at 157.
110. See Death Penalty Information Center, supra note 11.
111. See William A. Schabas, Invalid Reservations to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights: Is the United States Still a Party?, 21 Brook. J. Int'l L. 277, 279 n.12 (1995).
112. See id.
113. See id. at 277.
114. Honourable Warren Allmand, P.C., Q.C., is the President of the International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The Centre is an independent Canadian non-profit, charitable organization mandated to defend and promote the rights and freedoms enshrined in the International Bill of Human Rights and to encourage the development of democratic societies. Mr. Allmand was a Member of the House of Commons from 1965 to 1997 and also has served in the Cabinet as Solicitor General, Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, and Minister of Consumer and Corporate Affairs.
115. See Universal Declaration of Human Rights, G.A. Res. 217A, U.N. GAOR, 3d Sess., 67th plen. mtg., art. 3, U.N. Doc. A/810 (1948), reprinted in 43 Am. J. Int'l L. 127, 128 (Supp. 1949).
116. See Universal Declaration of Human Rights, G.A. Res. 217A, U.N. GAOR, 3d Sess., 67th plen. mtg., art. 5, U.N. Doc. A/810 (1948), reprinted in 43 Am. J. Int'l L. 127, 128 (Supp. 1949).
117. See International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Dec. 19, 1966, pt. III, art. 6, § 2, 999 U.N.T.S. 171, 174-75.
118. See Adoption of Convention on the Rights of the Child, U.N. GAOR 3d Comm., 44th Sess., Agenda Item 108, U.N. Doc. A/44/736 (1989).
119. See International Covenants on Human Rights: Report of the Third Committee, U.N. GAOR, 44th Sess., Annex, Agenda Item 98, at 14, U.N. Doc. A/44/824 (1989).
120. See Protocol No. 6 to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms Concerning the Abolition of the Death Penalty, Apr. 28, 1983, Europ. T.S. No. 114.
121. See Report of the Special Rapporteur, supra note 32.
122. See Mark Tran, US Singled Out as Death Penalty Is Condemned, Guardian (London), Apr. 4, 1998, at 16.
123. See International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, supra note 116, 999 U.N.T.S. at 175.
124. See supra note 20.
125. See Question of the Death Penalty: Commission on Human Rights Resolution 1998/8 (visited Jan. 16, 1999) 〈http://unhchr.ch/html/menu4/chrres/1998.res/8.htm〉.
126. See Status of the International Covenants on Human Rights: Question of the Death Penalty, U.N. ESCOR, 54th Sess., Hum. Rts. Comm., U.N. Doc. E/CN.4/1998/82 (1998).
127. See Alessandra Stanley, U.S. Dissents, but Accord Is Reached on War-Crime Court, N.Y. Times, July 18, 1998, at A3.
128. See Daniel J. Brown, Note, The International Criminal Court and Trial in Absentia, 24 Brook. J. Int'l L. 763, 777 (1999).
129. See Dale Turner, Death Penalty Isn't Way to Deter Crime or Deal Punishment, Seattle Times, Apr. 23, 1994, at D5.
130. See id.
131. See Murder Rate in Canada Drops 9% to 25-Year Low, Orlando Sentinel, Oct. 28, 1998, at A14.
132. See Barry Brown, Opposition to Death Penalty Up Sharply in Canada, Poll Says, Buffalo News, Jan. 3, 1999, at 7A.
133. See H.L.A. Hart, Punishment and Responsibility 76-78 (1968).
134. Dr. W.L. Seriti is Co-Chair of Law Society of South Africa and practices law with Seriti, Mavundla & Partners in Pretoria, South Africa. During the course of the last year, Dr. Seriti was appointed acting judge on the Venda High Court and on the Northern Cape High Court. During the drafting of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, Dr. Seriti served as a technical advisor. Dr. Seriti completed his master's degree on the death penalty and examined the entire administration of justice, particularly the criminal justice system in South Africa.
135. See § 4 of Criminal Procedure Amendment Act 9 of 1958; House of Assembly Hansard 28 January 1958 Col 356.
136. See § 21 of General Law Amendment Act 76 of 1962.
137. See § 5 of General Law Amendment Act 37 of 1963.
138. See James O. Midgley, Criminology: Corporal Punishment and Penal Policy: Notes on the Continued Use of Corporal Punishment with Reference to South Africa, 73 J. Crim. L. & Criminology 388, 394-95 (1982).
139. See id. at 395.
140. See Hart, supra note 132, at 71-72.
141. See id.
142. See id.
143. See id. at 85.
144. See id. at 88.
145. 1995 (3) SA 391. For a discussion of the case, see School of Law, University of the Witwatersrand, Annual Survey of South African Law 1995, at 6, 14-15, 25-27, 29, 31-33, 43, 86-87.
146. See 1995 (3) SA 391, paras. 100-02.
147. S. Afr. Const. § 8.
148. S. Afr. Const. § 9.
149. S. Afr. Const. § 10.
150. See 1995 (3) SA 391, para. 103.
151. See id. para. 104.