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Modern Capital of Human Rights?: Abuses in the State of Georgia

NCJ Number
219961
Date Published
July 1996
Length
224 pages
Annotation
In this book, Human Rights Watch assesses how Atlanta and the State of Georgia comply with international human rights standards.
Abstract
The assessment identifies eight areas where Atlanta and Georgia have failed to meet international standards for human rights. First, the Atlanta police have used excessive force against residents with impunity, including unjustified shootings and severe beatings. Second, Georgia's death penalty statute has led to the use of capital punishment primarily for poor and African-American defendants; this discriminatory impact compounds the human rights violation inherent in the death penalty itself. Third, drug laws are enforced disproportionately against Black drug offenders. Fourth, State-run jails are overcrowded and in poor physical condition, and local jail officials have neglected inmates' needs. Fifth, women in Georgia prisons experience sexual harassment and intimidation, and sometimes rape, by their guards. Sixth, minors in State confinement experience abusive custodial conditions, and they are subjected to cruel restraints and punitive practices. Seventh, lesbians and gay men face hostility that includes harassment under the State's antisodomy law, discriminatory firing of gay employees, verbal threats, and physical attacks. Eighth, freedom of expression is undermined by local school boards and State legislators. Recommendations are offered for addressing these human rights violations, so that Georgia can improve its compliance with international standards for human rights. Appendixes contain the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, aiming at the abolition of the death penalty; Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.