HRW slams rights violations in US
Human Rights Watch (HRW) has slammed the United States for a wide range of rights violations in the country, including torture, child labor, overcrowded prisons and a flawed judicial system. - According to a recent report by the New York-based HRW, the US has the largest incarcerated population with some 2.3 million inmates serving time in prisons across the country. American courts sometimes impose very long sentences tainted by racial disparities, the report added. Pointing to the detention of 368,000 immigrants in 2010, the report highlighted the increasing number of non-citizens being held in immigration detention facilities. The HRW criticized Washington's counter-terrorism policies, citing detentions without charge at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba and flawed military commissions. The rights group also slammed the effective blockage of any lawsuit seeking redress for torture victims in US custody. In review of the country's cruel punishments, the report finds that there are 34 US states that continue implementing the death penalty, as 39 people were executed in the United States in 2011. The report also examines issues such as poverty and extreme criminal punishments as well as child labor in the United States. Some 46 million Americans live in poverty, the largest number in 52 years.