Charity condemns 1000th modern execution in US

Amnesty International today condemned as “absolutely shocking” the execution of the 1,000th prisoner in the United States since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976.

Kenneth Lee Boyd was executed in North Carolina early today for the 1988 murder of his estranged wife Julie Curry Boyd, 36, and her father, 57-year-old Thomas Dillard Curry.

Kate Allen, Amnesty’s UK director, said: “It is absolutely shocking that the USA has executed its 1,000th prisoner in modern times – a shameful record that puts the USA in the same company as countries like China, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Vietnam.”

Ms Allen said the high crime rate in many states which carries the death penalty was proof that capital punishment is no proven deterrent.

“It is time to end the death penalty and to stop the killing,” she said.

In a prison interview this week Boyd said he wanted no part of the infamous numerical distinction of being the 1000th prisoner executed.

“I’d hate to be remembered as that,” he said. “I don’t like the idea of being picked as a number.”

Protesters gathered at Central Prison in Raleigh to mark the sombre milestone.

Police arrested 16 activists who sat down on the prison’s four-lane drive.

But despite the toll, which will rise to 1,001 this evening with the scheduled execution of Shawn Humphries in South Carolina, death penalty opponents have expressed optimism that capital punishment is on the decline.

“The annual execution rate has dropped 40% from a high of 98 in 1999,” said David Elliott, spokesman for the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty.

“More importantly, death sentences have declined 50% since the late 1990s.”

A recent Gallup poll found that 64% of Americans favour the death penalty, down from 80% in 1994.

Mr Elliott said: “The question is not whether we will abolish the death penalty but when?

“We predict it will be within 10 to 15 years. Our children will look back on this era with horror and embarrassment.”

He said prosecutors were less likely to seek the death penalty and juries, less willing to assess it.

An Amnesty report published in April this year showed that world executions were at their second highest rate in 25 years.

The report showed that at least 3,797 people were executed in 25 countries in 2004 and that at least 7,395 were sentenced to death in 64 countries – the highest rate since 1996.

Just four countries accounted for 97% of all executions. China executed at least 3,400 people, Iran executed at least 159, Vietnam at least 64 and the USA executed 59 prisoners.

Scotsman Kenny Richey was returned to death row in the US this week when the Supreme Court said an appeal court had wrongly ruled in his favour when they overturned his conviction earlier this year.

Richey was convicted of murdering a toddler in Ohio in 1986.