<P> It is the official policy of the European Union and a number of non-EU nations to achieve global abolition of the death penalty . For this reason the EU is vocal in its criticism of the death penalty in the US and has submitted amicus curiae briefs in a number of important US court cases related to capital punishment . The American Bar Association also sponsors a project aimed at abolishing the death penalty in the United States, stating as among the reasons for their opposition that the US continues to execute minors and the mentally retarded, and fails to protect adequately the rights of the innocent . </P> <P> Some opponents criticize the over-representation of blacks on death row as evidence of the unequal racial application of the death penalty . This over-representation is not limited to capital offenses - in 1992, although blacks account for 12% of the US population, about 34% of prison inmates were from this group, though studies dispute the involvement of racism - blacks commit crimes at a rate disproportionate to their representation in the population, and over half of homicides where the race of the offender is known were perpetuated by blacks . In McCleskey v. Kemp, it was alleged the capital sentencing process was administered in a racially discriminatory manner in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment . </P> <P> In 2003, Amnesty International reported those who kill whites are more likely to be executed than those who kill blacks, citing that of the 845 people executed since 1977 80 percent were put to death for killing whites and 13 percent were executed for killing blacks, even though blacks and whites are murdered in almost equal numbers . </P> <P> The United States is seen by social critics, including international and domestic human rights groups and civil rights organizations, as a state that violates fundamental human rights, because of disproportionately heavy penalties and extremely long prison sentences (in comparison with other countries), reliance on crime control, individual behavior control (civil liberties), and societal control of disadvantaged groups through a harsh police and criminal justice system . The U.S. penal system is implemented on the federal, and in particular on the state and local levels . This social policy has resulted in a high rate of incarceration, which affects Americans from the lowest socioeconomic backgrounds and racial minorities the hardest . </P>

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