• Florida: End Life Without Parole for Youth Offenders
    Human Rights Watch urged the Florida Senate Criminal Justice Committee to oppose Senate Bill (SB) 1350, Criminal Penalties. HRW believes that this bill is in violation of international human rights law.
    Apr 5, 2013
  • Letter to Inter-American Commission on Human Rights: Examine Incarceration of Youth in US Adult Prisons and Jails
    Human Rights Watch submitted an expert letter on the incarceration of youth offenders in adult prisons in the United States. We commend the commission for holding a hearing on this issue and engaging in a productive dialogue with the United States on this topic of grave importance to the human rights of children.
    Mar 11, 2013
  • US/Pennsylvania: Don't Codify Excessive Sentences for Children
    Human Rights Watch writes to urge Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett to veto Senate Bill 850, which would maintain life without parole sentences as an option for child offenders. The bill would codify excessive sentences for children that are inconsistent with international human rights law to which all US states are bound.
    Oct 19, 2012
  • US/Massachusetts: Protect Children With Disabilities
    Human Rights Watch wrote in support of Amendment 548 in the proposed Massachusetts state budget, which would end to the practice of administering electric shocks as behavior modification to people with disabilities in the state. This pratice, which is used only at the Judge Rotenberg Center, fails to respect the dignity of individuals with disabilities and is tantamount to torture .
    Jun 21, 2012
  • US: Issue Comprehensive Prison Rape Protections for All Immigration Detainees
    Human Rights Watch and 45 other organizations sent a letter to Secretary Janet Napolitano today, urging the Department of Homeland Security to develop strong, comprehensive standards to implement the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) in immigration facilities.
    Jun 13, 2012
  • US: All Immigration Detainees Deserve Protection from Rape
    The exclusion of immigration facilities from standards on preventing, detecting, and responding to sexual assault in custody is unjustifiable. It ignores the history of sexual assault in immigration detention and is inconsistent with the intent of the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA). Human Rights Watch and 38 other organizations urge President Obama to instruct the Department of Justice to cover immigration detention facilities in the final PREA regulations and to instruct the Department of Homeland Security to acknowledge that PREA applies to its facilities.
    Dec 7, 2011
  • US: Pennsylvania – Don’t Include Juveniles in Sex Offender Registry
    Human Rights Watch is concerned about the impact of House Bill 1958 on Pennsylvania children adjudicated delinquent or found guilty of sex offenses, in particular language that would require youthful offenders to participate in the registration and notification requirements under the Federal Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA) of the Adam Walsh Act (AWA).
    Dec 1, 2011
  • US: Immigration Facilities Should Apply Prison Rape Elimination Act Protections
    A letter from Human Rights Watch and 10 other organizations urges US President Barack Obama to direct the federal government to apply Prison Rape Elimination Act standards to detainees in US immigration facilities.
    Feb 15, 2011
  • US: Accept UPR Recommendations on Pressing Human Rights Challenges
    The United States has shown a spirit of engagement during the Universal Periodic Review process. The US should take the next step and give full consideration to the recommendations and to accept all those that would significantly improve US compliance with international human rights standards.
    Jan 25, 2011
  • US: UPR a Chance to Address Domestic Human Rights Challenges
    The 29-page US government report represents an important effort to frame a series of human rights issues facing the country. Nevertheless, we are concerned that the report, when discussing a particular human rights issue or achievement, often fails to acknowledge ongoing human rights challenges central to that same topic.
    Aug 31, 2010