US Death Penalty Tested before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
| DOI | 10.1177/016934419201000204 |
| Published date | 01 June 1992 |
| Date | 01 June 1992 |
| Subject Matter | Part A: Article |
Cerna /US Death Penalty Tested before the Inter-American Commission
US DEATH PENALTY TESTED
BEFORE
THE
INTER-AMERICAN
COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS
Christina M.
Cerna"
The Inter-American Commission on human Rights (hereinafter the "Commis-
sion"), the principal human rights organ of the Organization
of
American
States, on 27 March 1987, found the United States in violation of international
human rights law.' This was the first time that an intergovernmental body had
found the United States in violation of any international human rights norms.
I
Summary
of
the Case
The petitioners, James Terry Roach and Jay Pinkerton, were sentenced to death
and executed
in
the United States for crimes which they were adjudged tohave
committed and which they perpetrated before their eighteenth birthdays.
The petitioners alleged that the United States had violated Article I (the
right to life), Article VII (special protection of children) and Article XXVI
(prohibition against cruel, infamous and unusual punishment) of the American
Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man by executing persons for crimes
committed before theii:eighteenth birthday. They alleged a violation of the right
to life guaranteed by the American Declaration, as informed by customary
international law, which prohibits the execution of persons who committed
crimes under the age of eighteen. The facts in the case were not in dispute
between the parties.
The petition for Roach was filed on 4 December 1985. The Commission
cabled the US Secretary of State and the Governor
of
the state of South
caroline to request a stay
of
execution pending the Commission's examination
of the case. The requests were denied and the Supreme Court denied certiorari
in this case. Roach was executed on 10 January 1986. The petition for
*Staff-member of the Organization of American States.
1 Res.3/87, Case No. 9647 (United States), in Annual Report, 1986-1987, OENSer.UV/lI.71,
doc. 9 rev. 1, 1987. This case has been reported in 8 Human Rights Law Journal (1987), p.
345. For a general introduction to the functioning of the Inter-American Commission on
Human Rights, see Cecilia Medina, "Procedures in the Inter-American System for the
Promotion and Protectionof HumanRights. An Overview", 6 SNL (1988), No.2, pp. 83-102.
155
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