The Death Sentence

The Death Penalty is an important issue for students of criminal law. Bradford Law School received a moving and personal encounter with the subject when Brian Crowther, USA Death Penalty Co-ordinator, Amnesty International visited them. His powerful talk gave a whole new dimension to theoretical studies of crime and punishment.

"I have been a longtime Amnesty International activist since 1970. I plan to talk mainly about the death sentence in the USA, which is my position with the organisation at the moment. It is unpaid, unloved but very worthwhile. I must state at the outset that I am not anti-American - some of my most loved friends are American - I am anti the death penalty.

I have visited America to see prisoners on 6 occasions and I am a member of Lifelines, an organisation which writes to prisoners on death row. I have lost people who have become friends to execution. I must also explain that I am anti the death penalty not pro-violence. I do not condone violence and believe the most heinous crimes of murder, rape et cetera should be severely punished and society protected. I am not proselytising. I am here to give information about the death penalty, specifically in America."

Death Row

The USA is the only industrialised western country with capital punishment. Although it has many other qualities, I believe that this is debasing and degrading. Since 1990 it has been the leading executioner of juvenile offenders - 20 since 1990.

In Oklahoma someone who was 16 at the time of his crime was executed 13 years later. There are 4000 prisoners on death row.

My friend Richie has been awaiting execution for 20 years, although the record in California is someone who has been on death row for 35 years.

All this time is spent in a concrete cell measuring only 6' by 9', with only a washstand, bed and toilet. Richie hasn't seen sky, grass, the sun or moon since his conviction. He committed a murder 20 years ago in an argument over a $20 typewriter while he was stoned on cocaine.

Although not in a maximum security facility, Richie is caged and shackled. He is held in his cell for 23 hours per day and only allowed out to shower and exercise. When he exercises it is only in another cell. He is totally locked up. Everytime he leaves his cell he has to take all his clothes off, bend down and spread his cheeks before the guards, whether they are male or female. How can anyone retain any semblance of humanity in these conditions?"

Second year LLB student, Elizabeth Hawie, was impressed by Brian's talk and reminded of being an unwitting bystander at a public execution herself.

"Brian spoke very powerfully and personally. I found it very informative about the reality of prisoners on death row. I was not aware that in America minors were prosecuted and would be executed when they were old enough. I was also shocked to hear poll results showing that in this country there is majority support for the death penalty here. I know of only one person who would favour this. I think that there can always be an element of doubt, as miscarriages of justice show. At least everything in America is open and public and the media are informed. In many countries people are executed or just vanish and nothing is ever known. I would be interested to find out about Amnesty International's role in other countries. I found the talk very interesting from a personal viewpoint. I worked as a nurse in Syria for a number of years and once inadvertently witnessed a public hanging. My taxi got stuck in traffic and so I had to complete my journey on foot. Hemmed in by crowds in a public square, I saw the hanging of a man convicted of murder and rape. It was a horrible experience which has stayed with me."