Term Paper on "Human Rights Violations in the U.S"

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Human rights violation can occur in any way, in any situation, in any country. Some of the most common cases of human rights violations can be found in the prisons of any country. Let me quote the example of the case of an inmate in an Arizona prison. This person, named 'X', a fifty-year-old prisoner, was in fact a paraplegic, confined to a wheelchair, with about 23 bullet holes in his back and bone fragments embedded in his back. When X's catheters were cut down, no disinfectant was given to him to clean his catheters with. This resulted in severe infection and soon the patient developed massive seizures as well as horrendous pain. He was never transferred to a Hospital for treatment, till the stage arrived when the patient became so seriously ill that he could not bear human touch on his skin, because of the massive amounts of pain and traumas that he had been suffering from. This person's human rights were definitely violated to a huge extent, and no one can explain the reason 'why' this was done. (Medical Treatment Delayed without Cause for Arizona Inmate)

In another similar case of denied and delayed medical treatment to a prison inmate, the person 'Y' attempted to commit suicide by jumping out of his hospital room where he was under medical treatment. This person then suffered massive injuries to both his legs, which literally broke into pieces because of the impact of the fall. The Sheriff's Office, that is responsible for providing treatment as and when necessary for the inmates of prison, has been accused of not providing adequate treatment and care for this person 'Y' who was, amazingly, taken back to prison despite doctors advising treatment for his broken bones. The bones have since that time been setting by themselves, without the benefit of medical intervention, and this has resulted in the aggravation of certain earlier injuries that the patient had suffered, and now this person is confined to bed because of the atrophying of his lower back muscles and also due to the considerable pain that he feels on account of the wrong positioning of the bones of his legs. Why have this person's human rights been violated to this extent? (Medical Treatment Delayed without Cause for Arizona Inmate)

The Graylon Bell Case is one that has violated human rights in the extreme, for a prisoner named Graylon Bell in an Indiana Youth Center located in Plainfield, where he was actually set up for rape by officials of the prison. A cover up followed the set up and this was followed by another cover up, and Graylon Bell is still fighting for his human rights from the prison. When he had arrived at the prison, he had alerted the authorities to the fact that he was in danger of a sexual assault by Grady Vaxter, a fellow prisoner. The authorities took things so lightly that Graylon was moved into the same prison cell as Vaxter, and the inevitable result was the sexual assault and rape of Graylon by Vaxter, while authorities looked the other way. When Graylon reported the rape, he received appropriate treatment, after which he demanded an investigation into the entire episode.

However, the authorities took matters into their own hands and left Graylon tied up and shackled, in his underwear, in his cell where the window was kept open. Since it rained that night, the prisoner was exposed to the elements and chilled to the bone, while authorities stated that if he did not retract his statement against his rapist, he would be left there for a much longer time. Investigations were conducted and the prison authorities stated that all of Graylon's injuries were self-inflicted. However, the cover up came to light, but it was of no avail, because, once again, the hapless prisoner was denied his basic human rights in the form of medical treatment when he was suffering from asthma. (the World Wide Web, Virtual Library)

Why was this done? Why were the human rights of this person violated to this extent? The tragic story of Catherine Mutheki, a 20-year-old Kenyan girl who had come to the state of Alabama to study in the U.S.A. demonstrates a clear violation of her human rights, though the victim is no longer even alive to defend herself. Catherine was found hanging by her sweater, close to her dormitory, on a railroad spur about, from the low lying branches of a tree. Her death was written off as a suicide, and there was no investigation conducted as to the reason behind why such a bright and lively person as Catherine was would want to end her life. There is a general opinion that her death, in fact, had been caused as retaliation to the bombings of the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi, just before Catherine's entrance into the U.S. In what way did Catherine have anything to do with the bombings that had occurred thousands of kilometers away from where she was studying and living her own independent life? This was a blatant violation of the human rights of an individual that in fact led to the death of the person concerned, for no fault of hers. (GPA Kenyan student Lynched in Alabama)

Wen Ho lee was a Taiwanese born U.S. citizen and was working as a Nuclear Physicist in the Los Alamos National Laboratory when he was arrested and charged with mishandling classified information and leaking these secrets to China. Though he was not charged as a spy, he was charged with the mishandling of secret classified scientific information. The accusation faced by U.S. authorities is that Wen was the only person they were concentrating on, while others of American origin who were also working in the same capacity of Wen were being ignored and left off scot -free. The fact is that even after investigations proved that he did not nay espionage links with China, he was still put under surveillance for twenty-four hours a day, and this was a blatant violation of his human rights, and this was done to Wen despite the fact that the CIA Director John Deutch had in fact kept some of the same material in his personal computer at home, and though the material was confiscated, there was no action taken against him. Racial profiling has therefore been proven to exist in the U.S.A. (the Wen Ho Lee Case)

The Human Rights Watch was founded in the year 1978 in order to protect the human rights of people all over the world. It covers about a hundred different countries. (Human Rights Watch Publications.) the Anti-slavery Society was founded in the year 1839 and named 'British and foreign anti-slavery Society'. It is responsible for publishing details about the slavery that was happening in the United States of America and elsewhere in the world at that time. (Anti-slavery International) in the United States, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights has conducted a survey entitled 'Redefining Rights in America- the Civil Rights Record of the George W. Bush Administration, 2001-2004', on the extent to which the Bush Administration had succeeded in keeping up and maintaining the Civil Rights of the people of the… READ MORE