Death In State Custody

What is expected of State authorities with regard to the obligation to safeguard the life of detainees? What obligations do State authorities have in relation to the investigation into deaths that occur during deprivation of liberty by the State? This book addresses these questions regarding death in State custody in view of the European Convention on Human Rights, in particular the right to life, the prohibition of torture and the right to respect for private life (including the right to self-determination). It also provides an analysis of whether the Dutch legal framework contains safeguards to meet the requirements that follow from the European Convention on Human Rights. Matters that are discussed in detail are the obligation to provide healthcare to detainees and to take protective measures to safeguard the life of detainees. The ethical issues regarding end of life decisions of detainees, like refusal of medical treatment, hunger and/or thirst strike, suicide and euthanasia, and the conflicts that may arise in this regard considering the obligations of State authorities are addressed. This book is a must-have for all those who are involved in the (medical) treatment of detainees and who are confronted with death in State custody.

Razack s powerful critique of the Canadian settler state and its legal system speaks to many of today s most pressing issues of social justice."

Death in Custody shows that procedural justice theory is relevant for participation in processes investigating human rights violations. It includes key recommendations on how to ensure participation can be fair and effective.

Sudden in-custody restraint deaths have emerged as a critical and imp- tant problem for police, correctional, and medical care workers. The scope and magnitude of the problem clearly reveals that the subject matter is worthy of further consideration. Although the frequency of these deaths is very low, the criticality of its occurrence requires attention to the subject matter. The purpose of Sudden Deaths in Custody is to provide current information that addresses the issue from a number of perspectives. It is our purpose to assemble, under one title, current research that addresses the varying facets that underscore the nature of sudden in-custody deaths. The intent is to provide information that can further educate and assist those officers, adm- istrators, investigators, trainers, and medical personnel who must interact, intervene, and make decisions about how to prevent sudden in-custody deaths. Sudden Deaths in Custody specifically addresses sudden in-custody deaths that occur after a violent confrontation. Such incidents may occur after police or correction officers’ intervention, but also include incidents that may occur in a mental health facility or emergency medical field setting. The deaths described in this volume all involve sudden death within minutes or hours of contact preceded by one or more of the following: violent confrontation with police or corrections personnel, forcible control measures, and behavior inf- enced by a chemical substance, or mental impairment. Incidents involving custodial suicides, homicides, accidents, fatal pursuits, or police shootings are excluded.

The Committee's report examines the causes of deaths in custody, and considers what may be done to prevent these deaths, and better protect the right to life and other human rights, of vulnerable people held in the custody of the state. Issues discussed include: human rights standards applicable under the European Convention on Human Rights; the scale of the problem and concerns relating to the wider penal system in which these deaths occur, including the issue of overcrowding in prisons and sentencing practice; risk assessment and management, including reception in police custody, immigration detention and the provision of physical and mental healthcare in detention; the use of physical restraint and seclusion; staffing and training issues; investigations into deaths in custody and inquiries. Recommendations include the establishment of a cross-departmental expert task-force on deaths in custody to monitor the topic, review good practice standards, publish information and to make recommendations to Government.

Death in Custody shows that procedural justice theory is relevant for participation in processes investigating human rights violations. It includes key recommendations on how to ensure participation can be fair and effective.

The United States significantly undercounts the number of people who die in law enforcement custody each year. How can we fix this? Deaths resulting from interactions with the US criminal legal system are a public health emergency, but the scope of this issue is intentionally ignored by the very systems that are supposed to be tracking these fatalities. We don't know how many people die in custody each year, whether in an encounter with police on the street, during transport, or while in jails, prisons, or detention centers. In order to make a real difference and address this human rights problem, researchers and policy makers need reliable data. In Death in Custody, Roger A. Mitchell Jr., MD, and Jay D. Aronson, PhD, share the stories of individuals who died in custody and chronicle the efforts of activists and journalists to uncover the true scope of deaths in custody. From Ida B. Wells's enumeration of extrajudicial lynchings more than a century ago to the Washington Post's current effort to count police shootings, the work of journalists and independent groups has always been more reliable than the state's official reports. Through historical analysis, Mitchell and Aronson demonstrate how government at all levels has intentionally avoided reporting death in custody data. Mitchell and Aronson outline a practical, achievable system for accurately recording and investigating these deaths. They argue for a straightforward public health solution: adding a simple checkbox to the US Standard Death Certificate that would create an objective way of recording whether a death occurred in custody. They also propose the development of national standards for investigating deaths in custody and the creation of independent regional and federal custodial death review panels. These tangible solutions would allow us to see the full scope of the problem and give us the chance to truly address it.

No matter where in Canada they occur, inquiries and inquests into untimely Indigenous deaths in state custody often tell the same story. Repeating details of fatty livers, mental illness, alcoholic belligerence, and a mysterious incapacity to cope with modern life, the legal proceedings declare that there are no villains here, only inevitable casualties of Indigenous life. But what about a sixty-seven-year-old man who dies in a hospital in police custody with a large, visible, purple boot print on his chest? Or a barely conscious, alcoholic older man, dropped off by police in a dark alley on a cold Vancouver night? Or Saskatoon’s infamous and lethal starlight tours, whose victims were left on the outskirts of town in sub-zero temperatures? How do we account for the repeated failure to care evident in so many cases of Indigenous deaths in custody? In Dying from Improvement, Sherene H. Razack argues that, amidst systematic state violence against Indigenous people, inquiries and inquests serve to obscure the violence of ongoing settler colonialism under the guise of benevolent concern. They tell settler society that it is caring, compassionate, and engaged in improving the lives of Indigenous people – even as the incarceration rate of Indigenous men and women increases and the number of those who die in custody rises. Razack’s powerful critique of the Canadian settler state and its legal system speaks to many of today’s most pressing issues of social justice: the treatment of Indigenous people, the unparalleled authority of the police and the justice system, and their systematic inhumanity towards those whose lives they perceive as insignificant.