Foreign Nationals Under Sentence of Death in the U.S.

This information has been provided by Mark Warren of Human Rights Research.

TOTAL: 106 (as of November 15, 2023)
 

TOTAL NATIONALITIES REPRESENTED: 32

Foreign Nationals Under Sentence of Death in the U.S. By Foreign Nationality

Active Death Sentences (99)

Awaiting Retrial or Resentencing (7)

(Includes defendants awaiting a retrial or resentencing following a court reversal, or whose court-ordered reversal is not yet final)

Foreign Nationals Under Sentence of Death in the U.S. by State of Confinement

TOTALS BY JURISDICTION: All State Jurisdictions (103); All Federal Jurisdictions (3) — California (56), Florida (14), Texas (14), Pennsylvania (5), Nevada (4), Arizona (2), Ohio (2), Georgia (1), Alabama (1), Louisiana (1), Montana (1), Mississippi (1), Nebraska (1).

Totals include all reported foreign nationals under sentence of death, including those awaiting new sentencing hearings and cases in which the individual’s nationality is disputed. Confirmed cases of dual citizenship (individuals possessing both U.S. citizenship and that of another country) are not listed.

List of Symbols in Table Below

• ✓ foreign nationality independently confirmed
• ♀ Female
• ⬅ facing possible execution in the near future
• ☀ awaiting re-sentencing or new trial after appellate court ruling
• ⚠ cases in which a violation of consular rights has been raised in court proceedings or otherwise directly reported.
• ✉ cases in which notification of consular rights was reportedly provided by authorities without delay (i.e. upon arrest, or prior to booking for detention).
• † cases in which a consular rights violation is disputed
• I claim of innocence raised on appeal (incomplete data)
• M cases of reported mental illness, intellectual disability or brain damage (incomplete data)
• D inmate with INS detention number, but for whom no nationality has been specified
• ? cases of possible dual nationality

Notes

Solely for the purposes of this list, a “foreign national” is any individual under sentence of death in the USA who does not possess U.S. citizenship. More generally, foreign nationals in the United States would include: tourists and visitors, migrant workers with temporary permits, resident aliens, undocumented aliens, asylum-seekers, and persons in transit. Foreign citizens comprise a significant portion of the population: more than 60 million foreigners visit the United States annually from overseas and approximately 22 million U.S residents are non-citizens (according to the 2012 data from the U.S. Census Bureau).

Along with the general consular notification obligations that apply under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, the USA has also negotiated separate bilateral consular agreements applicable to some 50 countries. Under the terms of most of these agreements, there is a mandatory obligation to promptly notify the consulate of an arrest irrespective of the national’s wishes (typically within a specified time period, such as 72 hours following the detention).

Dual Nationality

Individuals retaining dual nationality who are arrested in one of their countries of citizenship are problematic for the purposes of consular notification under the VCCR (which makes no reference to dual citizenship). Individuals are listed provisionally if a report is received that they possess citizenship in a country other than the USA; if U.S. citizenship is later confirmed, the name is removed from this list.

The U.S. Department of State has taken the position that individuals who retain U.S. citizenship along with another nationality are not entitled to notification of consular rights if arrested in the USA. At a minimum, however, foreign consulates in the United States retain the right to communicate with and visit their citizens in custody, irrespective of dual nationality. Many countries have asserted a right to provide consular protection to dual nationals arrested in their other country of citizenship, particularly in life-threatening situations and denial of consular notification to dual nationals may deny the accused access to consular assistance in investigating and preparing his or her guilt or penalty defenses. While the scope of consular rights for this category of dual nationals may be open to some interpretation, all non-U.S. citizens detained or arrested in the USA are unquestionably entitled to the full range of consular rights afforded under international law.

Sources of Information

Since U.S. authorities do not always accurately list or report incarcerated individuals by nationality, it is difficult to identify and verify all foreign nationals under sentence of death. For instance, a recent U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics survey noted that a reported 95,977 noncitizens were held in custody at midyear 2010, but also indicated that the criteria used to determine foreign nationality varied widely by state. There is no accessible national registry of death-sentenced foreigners (although the USCIS data base of deportable aliens serving prison terms would likely include all known foreign nationals on death row nationwide). Compounding the problem is the still-widespread failure of U.S. law enforcement officials to notify detained foreigners of their consular rights. Without this notification and subsequent communication at the request of the detained national, foreign consulates in the United States are likely to remain unaware of the true number of their nationals who are imprisoned, let alone sentenced to death.

The information for this list comes from a variety of sources, including appellate attorneys, post-conviction resource centers, trial counsel, prosecutors, newspaper articles, journalists, consulates, and prison officials.

Research to date indicates that there are no foreign nationals currently on death row in South Carolina. There is as yet no complete data from a number of U.S. states with significant death row populations, including Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee. A comprehensive list would likely include some 145 names (i.e., roughly 5% of the total U.S. death row population).

A name is included on the list if it is confirmed by at least one reliable contact. The eventual goal is to verify the nationalities of all individuals on this list from two or more independent sources. At present, approximately three-quarters of the names have been corroborated by multiple independent sources.

I welcome any and all additional information on this subject.

Mark Warren, Human Rights Research
e-mail
tel: (613) 256-8308

Human Rights Research provides information on consular rights issues in death penalty cases, along with international legal consulting and research services to attorneys, consulates and non-governmental organizations.