RESOLUTION B3-0778, 0780, 0793, 0809, 0837 AND 0848/92

Resolution on the death penalty in the United States

The European Parliament,

A.deeply concerned at the recent increase in executions in the United States of America,

B.appalled by the execution on 21 April 1992 of Mr Robert Alton Harris who had been in the condemned cell in San Quentin prison in California for fourteen years,

C.saddened by the execution in the electric chair of Mr Nollis Lee Martin on 12 May 1992 in Tallahassee, Florida, after the Supreme Court had rejected his appeal claiming diminished responsibility on mental grounds,

D.shocked also by the execution of Mr Roger Coleman at Greensville, Virginia, on 21 May 1992, about whose guilt many distinguished Americans have grave doubts,

E.aware that Kenneth Richey, a citizen of the European Community, has been sentenced to death by a court in Ohio, and noting that there was no forensic evidence against him and that there are grounds for casting doubt on the safety of this conviction,

F.whereas this becomes even more serious when, as in the case of the recently executed Mr Coleman, serious doubts frequently exist as to the guilt of the condemned person, while execution rules out any possibility of correcting a wrong sentence,

G.concerned by the lack of clemency accorded to those who commit crimes in their adolescence and to the mentally deficient,

H.aware that mistakes have been made in the past with the death penalty and that there is no way of putting these mistakes right,

I.whereas, according to a recent Amnesty International report, there are over 2 500 people awaiting execution on Death Row in the United States,

J.fearing that the resumption of executions in certain States may encourage other States to follow suit,

K.saluting the courage of Governor Cuomo in vetoing the proposed reintroduction of the death penalty in the State of New York,

L.mindful of its resolution of 12 March 1992 on the death penaltyMinutes of that Sitting, Part II, Item 7,

1.Rejects the death penalty and calls for it to be abolished throughout the world;

2.Calls on the legislatures, Governors and pardoning authorities of the US States and the President and Congress of the United States of America to discontinue application of the death penalty;

3.Appeals to the candidates for high office in the United States to set an example by repudiating the use of the death penalty;

4.Insists in particular on the imperative need to show clemency to those who committed capital crimes when minors or who are mentally sub-normal;

5.Mandates its delegation to the USA to restate the European Parliament's opposition to capital punishment in its meetings in Washington and New York at the end of June 1992;

6.Calls upon its President and the Council to do all in their power to ensure Kenneth Richey is not executed;

7.Calls on the Council to ask the US Government to order exemption from US extradition proceedings of any US citizen convicted of a capital offence in a Member State;

8.Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Commission, the Council, EPC, President Bush, the Governors of all States of the Union and the majority and minority leaders in both Houses of Congress.