United States’ compliance with dictates specified in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

The Sentencing Project Submits Recommendations to U.N. Human Rights Committee
The Sentencing Project, in conjunction with a broad coalition of human rights organizations, has submitted two issue reports to the United Nations’ Human Rights Committee in preparation for hearings regarding the United States’ compliance with dictates specified in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). These documents are part of a larger “shadow” report that examines U.S. violations of human rights protected under the international treaty.
For the report, The Sentencing Project prepared a statement, Violations of Article 25:Voting Rights, describing widespread problems in the implementation of felony disenfranchisement laws by state governments, resulting in confusion among the electorate and preventing a substantial number of eligible voters from registering.
The Sentencing Project also coordinated the development of a domestic criminal justice section for the Shadow Report. The Criminal Justice Policy Foundation, Open Society Policy Center, Penal Reform International, and The Sentencing Project contributed statements for the section, and other national organizations endorsed its recommendations. Key findings in this section include:
The United States fails to adequately fund a viable public defense system, which jeopardizes the fairness of criminal court proceedings and increases the likelihood of erroneous convictions;
Mandatory minimum sentences exacerbate racial inequality in the criminal justice system and have devastating consequences for the African American community;
The American correctional system fails to protect basic human rights in prison, primarily through overcrowding, violence, inadequate programming, and confinement in “supermax” prison facilities;
The practice of routinely prosecuting juveniles in adult criminal court, in some cases subjecting children to sentences of life without parole, continues in the U.S. despite guarantees in the ICCPR for its occurrence to be limited to “exceptional circumstances.”
Ryan King, Policy Analyst with The Sentencing Project will participate in briefings before the Committee at its meeting in Geneva, Switzerland on July 17 and 18. The Committee is expected to release an official list of recommendations regarding the United States' compliance with the treaty at the end of July.

gali@sentencingproject.org
http://www.sentencingproject.org