Thousands of children in US prisons are victims of human rights violations and 70 prisoners are waiting to be put to death for crimes committed when they were minors, Amnesty International said yesterday.
The human rights organisation said nine people have been put to death in the United States since 1990 for crimes committed when they were children, the same number for this category as in the rest of the world during the period. Iran, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Yemen are the other countries which have the death penalty for crimes committed by children.
Amnesty quoted the cases of a 13-year-old girl imprisoned for suspected possession of marijuana, which turned out to be oregano, a 16-year-old girl who was sent to prison for refusing to attend school and a boy of 12 arrested after harassing someone by telephone. Amnesty said minors in US prisons were subjected to physical brutality, solitary confinement, incarceration with adult prisoners and prolonged periods of temporary imprisonment while they awaited trial.