Press Release from the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty/Communiqué de la Coalition Mondiale Contre la Peine de Mort

La Coalition mondiale contre la peine de mort condamne la décision de la Cour suprême américaine datée du 16 avril 2008, qui confirme le caractère légal de l'injection létale comme méthode d'exécution d'une personne condamnée à mort.

La peine de mort est l'illustration la plus flagrante de l'échec de la politique publique en matière de Justice. Cette décision (relative à l'affaire Baze c. Rees, Etat du Kentucky) ne répond en rien aux interrogations croissantes du public concernant les failles de l’application de la peine de mort. En autorisant les Etats-Unis à poursuivre leur "bricolage avec la machine de la mort", la Cour maintient le pays en décalage vis-à-vis de la communauté internationale, majoritairement abolitionniste (135 nations du monde entier n’utilisent plus à ce jour la peine capitale).

Depuis la dernière exécution aux Etats-Unis, il y a 7 mois, l'Assemblée Générale des Nations unies a appelé les Etats du monde à adopter un moratoire universel sur les exécutions et l'Etat du New Jersey a aboli la peine de mort.

Pendant ce temps, aux Etats-Unis, quatre personnes de plus ont été innocentées et libérées après avoir passé à eux trois 79 ans dans les couloirs de la mort, attendant leur exécution pour des crimes qu'ils n'avaient pas commis. Depuis 1976, les échecs du système judiciaire ont envoyé 128 innocents dans les couloirs de la mort américains.

La Coalition Mondiale contre la Peine de Mort appelle les Etats-Unis, et ses 36 Etats rétentionistes, à reconnaître ce que beaucoup d'américains savent déjà, y compris les deux juges de la Cour suprême ayant exprimé une opinion dissidente et le juge John Paul Stevens : il est désormais temps pour les Etats-Unis de reconnaître que la peine de mort est un châtiment cruel et inhumain et que l’abolition sur tout le territoire américain s’impose.

(English version)

The World Coalition Against the Death Penalty condemns the April 16th decision of the United States Supreme Court upholding the lethal injection as a humane method of executing a human being.

The death penalty is a failed public policy. This decision (case Baze vs. Rees, Kentucky) by a majority of the Court does nothing to address the growing public concern that the death penalty is deeply flawed. By allowing the continuation of the United States' practice of “tinkering with the machinery of death” the Court again leaves the United States out of step with the majority of the world’s nations : 135 States worldwide no longer use capital punishment.

In the seven months since the last execution in the United States, the United Nations General Assembly has called for a worldwide moratorium on executions and the State of New Jersey has abolished the death penalty.

In the same time four more innocent persons have been released in the United States after serving a collective 79 years awaiting execution for crimes they did not commit. The systemic failures of the justice have now placed 128 innocent persons on United States death rows since 1976.

The World Coalition Against the Death Penalty calls on the United States, and its 36 retentionist states, to recognize what many Americans, including the Court's two dissenting Justices and Justice John Paul Stevens, already know: it is time for the United States to recognize that the death penalty is a cruel and unusual punishment, as stipulated in the 8th Amendment of the US Constitution, and to abolish its use throughout the United States.

Source : Coalition Mondiale contre la Peine de Mort

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