EU protests death penalty after 1,000th US execution News
EU protests death penalty after 1,000th US execution

[JURIST] The European Union [official website] has released a statement [text] criticizing the death penalty after North Carolina executed Kenneth Lee Boyd [JURIST report], marking the 1,000th execution in the US since the US Supreme Court lifted a 10 year moratorium [DPIC backgrounder] on capital punishment in 1976. "We consider this punishment cruel and inhuman," said the statement. "It does not act as a deterrent and any miscarriage of justice — which is inevitable in any legal system — is irreversible." The EU commended the Supreme Court on 2002 and 2005 decisions declaring the execution of mentally deficient and juvenile offenders unconstitutional, but urged the US to reconsider its withdrawal [JURIST report] from the Optional Protocol of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations (VCCR) [text], which "gives the right to consular assistance in death penalty cases." Today, 38 of the 50 states and the US government permit capital punishment; according to Amnesty International [advocacy website]. Only China, Iran and Vietnam executed more citizens in 2004 than the US. Reuters has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

38 Santee Sioux hanged by US for rebellion

On December 26, 1862, 38 Santee Sioux men were hanged in a mass execution for their roles in a rebellion against US authorities in Minnesota which left hundreds dead and made refugees of some 40,000 white settlers. Government annuities promised under a treaty with the Sioux had failed to arrive on schedule and credit for purchases was not advanced in the meantime, threatening the tribe with starvation. The Santee Sioux Tribe's members were deported first to South Dakota and ultimately to Nebraska, where they remain today. Learn more about the 1862 Minnesota Sioux Rebellion.

Louis XVI put on trial during French Revolution

On December 26, 1792, Romain de Sèze, a defense attorney for deposed King Louis XVI, presented a defense of his client. The former King was on trial before a French Revolutionary court on thirty-three charges, including treason and other crimes against the state. He was convicted on January 15, 1793 executed by guillotine on the following January 21.