Amicus is a United Kingdom-based non-profit organization headquartered in London. The charity aims to assist those facing capital trial and punishment around the world, particularly in the United States, by providing them with proper legal representation and advocating their basic human rights. The charity was founded in 1992, in memory of Andrew Lee Jones

Andrew Lee Jones

Andrew Lee Jones was an American executed for murder. He was tried, convicted, and executed in the electric chair in Louisiana for the murder of Tumekica Jackson...

 who was executed in Louisiana in 1991.

Mission Statement and Main Activities

The Mission Statement of Amicus is to:

"promote the relief of suffering and distress to those persons and families of those persons who are awaiting execution in any state of the United States of America and who, for reasons of their poverty, are in need of legal or other assistance to ensure the preservation of their rights of appeal and to ensure that their imprisonment is administered, so far as is possible, humanely. "

Main Activities

Aside from hosting frequent charity social events, such as wine-tastings, academic panel discussions, often featuring prominent speakers (see list below), pub quizzes and dinner dances, Amicus focuses on four main activities to promote their cause.

Internships

Amicus arranges volunteer placements with US capital defence attorneys' offices. Between October 2004 and May 2007, Amicus through the funding of Lime 2004 http://www.amicus-lime.com/home.html, placed 53 interns across America for internships between three and eighteen months. In addition, Amicus frequently provides ongoing assistance to regions in crisis, such as New Orleans, Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina

Hurricane Katrina

Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was a powerful Atlantic hurricane. It is the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall...

.

Training

Amicus runs training courses in US criminal law and procedure for people planning to undertake an internship position in America in both London and Birmingham. Workshops focusing on drafting amicus curiae

Amicus curiae

An amicus curiae is someone, not a party to a case, who volunteers to offer information to assist a court in deciding a matter before it...

 briefs, motions and international applications, as well as conducting research on behalf of defence attorneys are also held throughout the year.


Amicus collaborated with the Middle Temple

Middle Temple

The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers; the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn and Lincoln's Inn...

 Library to ensure that the UK public had access to US constitutional and capital punishment criminal texts. The Capital Punishment collection is housed alongside the Library's existing American Collection http://www.middletemple.org.uk/library/the-american-collection.html - the largest collection of US law in London (founded in the 1920's)- and Capital Punishment Collection http://www.middletemple.org.uk/library_/library-collections.html- which includes key legal texts for jurisdictions around the world, both of which can be found on the third floor of the library.

Case Work

At the request of capital defence attorneys, Amicus has drafted amicus curiae briefs for a number of American courts, including the United States Supreme Court. Amicus case-workers also draft motions for use before and during trials and appeals, such as motions against the use of gruesome photographs. They also assist with drafting clemency statements and petitions in a number of states.


In addition, Amicus provides experienced lawyers to argue before international courts. The jurisdiction of the Privy Council

Privy council

A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a nation, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the monarch's closest advisors to give confidential advice on...

 http://www.privy-council.org.uk/output/page1.asp in London means that they have argued many of the issues that relate to the death penalty in the US. Amicus lawyers have, in the past, argued cases before the United Nations Commission on Human Rights

United Nations Commission on Human Rights

The United Nations Commission on Human Rights was a functional commission within the overall framework of the United Nations from 1946 until it was replaced by the United Nations Human Rights Council in 2006...

 http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Pages/WelcomePage.aspx and drafted applications to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights

Inter-American Commission on Human Rights

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights is an autonomous organ of the Organization of American States .Along with the...

,http://www.cidh.org/ headquartered in Washington DC. Amicus also provides trial observers to analyze how other trials in various jurisdictions around the world work.

Journal

Amicus Journal, published three to four times a year, features pertinent news stories, relating to death penalty issues, from around the world as well as editorials, book reviews and commentaries from interns working on real capital cases.

Notable Speakers and Affiliates

• Michael Mansfield
  Michael Mansfield
  Michael Mansfield QC is an English barrister. A republican, vegetarian, socialist, and self-described "radical lawyer", he has participated in prominent and controversial court cases and inquests involving accused IRA bombers, the Bloody Sunday incident, and the deaths of Jean Charles de Menezes...
  
   QC, Honorary President
• Jan Arriens, Founder of Lifelines
• Hugo Adam Bedau
  Hugo Adam Bedau
  Hugo Adam Bedau is the Austin B. Fletcher Professor of Philosophy, Emeritus, at Tufts University, and is best known for his work on capital punishment...
  
  , Professor of Philosophy, Emeritus, at Tufts University
• Alistair Carmichael
  Alistair Carmichael
  Alexander Morrison "Alistair" Carmichael is a Liberal Democrat politician. He has been the Member of Parliament for the Scottish seat of Orkney and Shetland since the 2001 general election.-Early life:...
  
  , MP
• Peter Carter QC, Bar Human Rights Committee of England and Wales
• Richard Dieter, Death Penalty Information Center
  Death Penalty Information Center
  The Death Penalty Information Center is a non-profit organization that focuses on disseminating studies and reports related to the death penalty by itself and others to the news media and general public...
  
   (DPIC)http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/
• Bianca Jagger
  Bianca Jagger
  Bianca Jagger is a Nicaraguan-born social and human rights advocate and a former actress and model...
  
  , Goodwill Ambassador
  Goodwill Ambassador
  Goodwill Ambassador is a collective term sometimes used as a substitute honorific title or a title of honor for an Ambassador of Goodwill; but, most appropriately for a generic recognition, it is a job position or description that is usually indicated following the name of the individual recognized...
  
  , Council of Europe
  Council of Europe
  The Council of Europe is an international organisation promoting co-operation between all countries of Europe in the areas of legal standards, human rights, democratic development, the rule of law and cultural co-operation...
  
  
• Mel James, member of Penal Reform International (PRI)
• George Kendall, former director of NAACP's Legal Defence Fund
• Julian Killingley, Professor of American Public Law at Birmingham City University School of Law
• Robin Maher, Director of American Bar Association Death Penalty Representation Project
• Mark George QC, trustee http://www.gcnchambers.co.uk/gcn/barristers/george_qc