United Nations Radio

A United Nations independent legal expert has called on the United States to ensure that the death penalty is applied fairly and justly in states such as Alabama and Texas.

Speaking to reporters in New York on Monday following his visit to the United States, Philip Alston(photo), noted that close to 130 people who had been on death row nationwide have been exonerated.

Mr. Alston said that there was reluctance on the part of judges in Alabama and Texas to respond to the crisis caused by the number of people who have been subsequently found not guilty of crimes for which they had been sentenced to death:

"Many of the people that I spoke with at all levels suggested strongly that judges in both states consider themselves to be under popular pressure to impose and uphold death sentences wherever possible, and that decisions to the contrary would lead to electoral defeat."

Mr. Alston stressed that the role of the judiciary is to ensure that justice is done in individual cases and to avoid the execution of innocent persons.

For UN Radio, this is Gerry Adams.

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