easons. According to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted in 1948, "no one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment" (quoted in Amnesty International, 2000). As previously noted, Amnesty International views the death penalty itself as an extreme physical and mental assault on a person already in the control of government authorities and so already prevented from carrying out whatever action the government denies him or her. The cruelty of the death penalty, however, extends beyond the actual execution as the prisoner must then spend the time before execution "constantly contemplating his or her own death at the hands of the state" (Amnesty International Online, Human Rights. . ., 2002). Although the right to life and the right not to be subjected to cruel and inhumane or degrading punishment are the two reasons most often given by Amnesty International in opposing the death penalty, there are other rights that are compromised as well. For example, as reported by the UN Special Rapporteur, in many cases prisoners are sentenced to death in trials that do not conform to international norms for a fair trial. These prisoners often do not understand the charges that are being leveled against them and may be represented by inexperienced lawyers or no lawyer at all. Right to appeal to a higher jurisdiction or to petition for clemency is also usually denied especially when these cases are tried before "special" or military courts. These practices undermine the right to a fair trial and are in direct violation of recognized human rights standards, even before the victim has been sentenced the death penalty (Amnesty International Online, Human Rights. . .,2002). Additionally, the death penalty is often used disproportionately against the poor, minorities, and members of other racial, ethnic, and religious communities. Furthermore, despite claims that the current use of lethal i...