Death Penalty: The Ultimate Denial Of Human Rights

Death Penalty: The Ultimate Denial Of Human Rights

Since 1977, more than 130 prisoners have been released from death row in the United States after being found innocent.



Today is the world day against the death penalty, and Amnesty International is focusing its attention on the United States in the human rights organization global push to end the use of capital punishment. The United States is the only country in the Americas that carried out executions in 2009. The paragraph below, from Amnesty International, sums up the organization’s position the best.

“The death penalty is the ultimate denial of human rights. It is the premeditated and cold-blooded killing of a human being by a state. This cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment is done in the name of justice. It violates the right to life as proclaimed in the Universal Declaration Of Human Rights. Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all cases, without exceptions, regardless of the nature of the crime, the characteristic of the offender, or the method used by the state to kill the prisoner.”