• Excessive Punishments and Restrictions

    We oppose the death penalty in all cases as inherently cruel. We also work to change criminal sentences that are disproportionately severe relative to the crime and the culpability of the individual offender, including the sentencing of juvenile offenders to life without the possibility of parole and long sentences set by mandatory sentencing laws for low level drug offenses. These sentences violate human rights laws binding on the United States that prohibit cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, and require that juvenile offenders be treated in accordance with their age and capacity for rehabilitation. We also oppose the imposition of arbitrary and disproportionate restrictions in lieu of, or in addition to, criminal punishment, such as restrictions on access to public housing, the right to vote, or choice of residence.

  • A photograph of Ethan A. (pseudonym) held by his mother, showing her son at age 11, four months before he was arrested for committing a sex offense and placed on the sex offender registry in Texas.
    © 2013 Private
    US: More Harm Than Good
    Harsh public registration laws often punish youth sex offenders for life and do little to protect public safety, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. A web of federal and state laws apply to people under 18 who have committed any of a wide range of sex offenses, from the very serious, like rape, to the relatively innocuous, such as public nudity.
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Excessive Punishment and Restrictions

  • US: Over-Criminalization Task Force Should Examine Federal Sentencing Practices
    Jun 17, 2013
    Human Rights Watch sent this letter to members of the US Congress, regarding the scope of the new Congressional Over-Criminalization Task Force. If the task force is to be effective, it needs to tackle multiple flawed facets of the criminal justice system, including not only overcriminalization but also federal sentencing practices.
  • Congress: Stop Playing Hunger Games with the Food Stamp Program
    Jun 11, 2013
    An anti-hunger program should be no place to mete out punishment. But that, in effect, will soon start happening all over the country - unless the US Senate changes course.
  • Florida has a chance to get mandatory youth sentencing right — next time
    May 17, 2013
    A bill requiring judges to sentence youth convicted of homicide to at least 50 years in prison has put the Florida Senate on a collision course with the courts — unless Florida gets it right. The Florida Legislature should not spend its time trying to craftily dodge a Supreme Court ruling. It should tackle this difficult issue directly and fairly.
  • Sex Offenders Aren’t All Monsters
    May 8, 2013
    Sex offender laws are meant to protect children, but research increasingly shows the severe damage they cause, reports Nicole Pittman.
  • New York Bail Reform: Letter to Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman About His Proposals
    May 3, 2013
  • US: Federal Prison Release Program Badly Mismanaged
    May 3, 2013
    A landmark report by the Office of Inspector General (OIG) of the Department of Justice concludes that the compassionate release program of the federal Bureau of Prisons is badly mismanaged. The OIG findings confirm those made by Human Rights Watch and FAMM in a jointly published report last November.
  • US: Maryland Abolishes Death Penalty
    May 2, 2013
    Maryland on May 2, 2013, became the sixth US state in six years to abolish the death penalty, continuing a trend to end this inherently cruel punishment in the United States. Maryland’s governor should commute the sentences of the five men who remain on the state’s death row.
  • Raised on the Registry - Brandon's Story
    May 2, 2013
    Brandon has certainly made a series of bad choices, and he should be held responsible for them. But that doesn’t diminish the fact that he’s being continuously punished for something that happened when he was 11 – and that never happened again. Not only does this harm Brandon and his family, but it uses precious government resources needed to track people who are much more likely to endanger children.
  • Q&A: Raised on the Registry
    May 1, 2013
    Questions and answers about Human Rights Watch's recent report, "Raised on the Registry: The Irreparable Harm of Placing Children on Sex Offender Registries in the US."
  • US: More Harm Than Good
    May 1, 2013
    Harsh public registration laws often punish youth sex offenders for life and do little to protect public safety, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. A web of federal and state laws apply to people under 18 who have committed any of a wide range of sex offenses, from the very serious, like rape, to the relatively innocuous, such as public nudity.
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