II. On Infringements upon Human Rights by Law Enforcement and
Judicial Organs
There exist serious infringements upon personal rights and freedoms by law
enforcement and judicial organs in the United States.
Secret snooping is prevalent and illegal detention occurs from time to time.
The recently disclosed Snoopgate scandal has aroused keen attention of the
public in the United States. After the Sept.11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the U.S.
President has for dozens of times authorized the National Security Agency and
other departments to wiretap some domestic phone calls. With this authorization,
the National Security Agency may conduct surveillance over phone calls and
e-mails of 500 U.S. citizens at a time. It is reported that from 2002 through
2004, there were at least 287 cases in which special agents of FBI were
suspected of illegally conducting electronic surveillance. In one of the cases,a
FBI agent conducted secret surveillance of an American citizen for five years
without notifying the U.S. Department of Justice. On Dec. 21, 2005, the U.S.
Senate voted to extend the Patriot Act,a move that aroused keen concern of
public opinion. The law makes it easier for FBI agents to monitor phone calls
and e-mails, to search homes and offices, and to obtain the business records of
terrorism suspects. (Senate Votes to Extend Patriotic Act for 6 Months, The
Washington Post, Dec. 22, 2005). According to a reportof the U.S. National
Broadcasting Company on Dec. 13, 2005, the U.S. Defense Department had been
secretly collecting information about U.S. citizens opposing the Iraq war and
secretly monitoring all meetings for peace and against the war. According to a
report of the New York Times, in recent years, FBI had been collecting
information on large numbers of non-governmental organizations that participated
in anti-war demonstrations everywhere in the United States through its
monitoring network and other channels. The volume of collected information is
stunning. (The Fog of FalseChoices, The New York Times, Editorial, Dec. 20,
2005). Among it, there are 2,400 pages of information on Greenpeace, an
environmental group. On Jan. 9, 2006, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Bureau of
Customs and Border Protection announced that in the "anti-terrorism" fight the
U.S. customs has the right to open and inspect incoming private letters, which
again sparked protests. (The AP, Jan. 9, 2006.) On Jan. 17, 2006, the American
Civil Liberties Union and the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights
separately filed suits in U.S. district court for eastern Michigan and a federal
court against the U.S. President and heads of security agencies for spying on
U.S. citizens.
Police abuse is also very common in the United States. According to a report
of the Los Angeles Times on July 14, 2005, Los Angeles police shot dead the
19-month-old daughter of a suspect when trying to arrest the suspect, which
triggered public outcry. On Oct. 9, five New Orleans police officers battered a
64-year-old retired teacher on the street while trying to arrest him, and he
suffered injuries. (AP, Oct. 9, 2005) The incident caught the attention of
public opinion. On Dec. 26, a New Orleans Police officer fired at least six
shots at a black man carrying a knife and killed him. Cases of police abuse are
usually hard to get just settlement. According to a report of the Los Angeles
Times on March 31, 2005, only eight out of more than 200 charges against police
mistreatment and abuse were resolved, and the rest were either shelved or
settled privately.
There exist obvious injustice and frequent rights infringements in the
judiciary system. In 2005, the U.S. media disclosed several cases of citizens
wrongly convicted. After 24 years in prison, Robert Clark Jr. from Georgia was
released after a DNA test proved him innocent. Clark's was one of the longest
incarcerations served by the 164 people who have been exonerated by DNA testing.
(After 24 Years in Prison, Man Has a Reason to Smile, the New York Times,Dec. 8,
2005). On the night of Dec. 21, 2005, the CNN Larry King Live program
interviewed four convicted felons that have recently been proven innocent by DNA
evidence after having stayed more than 10 years behind bars. Well-known Los
Angeles criminal defense attorney Mark Geragos said during the program that he
had seen studies that there are up to 20 percent of wrongful convictions inthe
United States. (Many Convicted Felons Have Been Proven Innocent by DNA Evidence,
CNN Larry King Live, Aired Dec. 21, 2005.) A report of the U.S. Death Penalty
Information Center released in October 2005 said the U.S. death penalty system
is "woefully short of justice," because of "misconduct in misinforming the
juries." (AFP, Oct. 18, 2005)
