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2. TRUE
Article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states: "No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Additionally, 106 countries have signed and/or ratified the International Conventions Against Torture or to Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

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3. TRUE
According to the Amnesty International report, Torture in the 80s, 66 countries show well documented evidence of systematic use of torture by government agents. Much of this torture takes place during the first days or weeks after a person is detained, while they are held "incommunicado," Amnesty International has set up an Urgent Action Network to respond rapidly to such situations. Please consider joining it!

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4. TRUE
On September 11, 1985, Charles Rumbaugh of Texas became the first of nine juvenile offenders to be executed in the USA since 1964. Of the 38 US states that have the death penalty, only 9 prohibit the imposition of the death penalty on people aged under 18 at the time of the offense. This is in clear violation of Article 6(5) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which states: "Sentence of death shall not be imposed for crimes committed by persons below eighteen years of age..." The US Government ratified this treaty in June 1993, but made a reservation to this clause of Article 6. At the end of 1995 at least 44 juvenile offenders were under sentence of death in 13 states. The only other countries of the world that sentence juveniles to death are Rwanda, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq and Bangladesh.

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5. FALSE
A recent study (In Spite of Innocence: Erroneous Convictions in Capital Cases (1992). Michael L. Radelet, Hugo Adam Bedau & Constance E. Putnam. Northeastern Univ. Press: Boston, MA.) has produced evidence of 416 US cases in which innocent people were convicted of offenses punishable by death. These cases -- from 1900 to 1992 -- include 23 who were executed.

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6. TRUE
Since South Africa abolished the death penalty in 1995, the US stands alone among western industrial countries in its use of capital punishment. At least one country a year has abolished the death penalty since 1975. Of the members of NATO, only the US and Turkey use the death penalty.

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7. FALSE
The death penalty in the US is racially biased. Nearly half the people on death row are members of racial minorities. But a more significant and subtle aspect of the racism related tot he race of the murder victim. 90% of the prisoners executed since 1977, and 79% of those now on death row, have been convicted of murdering whites, even though blacks and whites are victims of homicides in roughly equal numbers. Blacks convicted of murdering whites are 11 times more likely than whites to be sentenced to death.

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8. TRUE
A "disappearance" refers to the taking of a person into custody by authorities and the subsequent denial of having done so. "Disappearances" usually result in clandestine imprisonment, torture, and/or "death squad" killings. Amnesty International is particularly alarmed by the arbitrary nature of "disappearances," since it is a strategy designed to repress political dissent and is often used against innocent people.

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9. FALSE
Amnesty International works for the release of Prisoners of Conscience. These are people detained for their beliefs, color, sex, ethnic origin, language or religion who have not used or advocated violence. It works for fair and prompt trials for all political prisoners.

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10. TRUE

Congratulations!!!
You have completed the Human Rights Quiz!!