Born September 12, 1944, Leonard Peltier is a Native Americana (citizen of the Anishinabe and Lakota Nations) activist, artist, author, and member of the American Indian Movement. In 1977 he was convicted and sentenced to two consecutive terms of life imprisonment for the murders of two FBI Agents who died during a 1975 shoot-out on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

Some facts are clear. On the night of December 9th, 1981, during a traffic stop, Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner was killed by multiple gunshots near the corner of 13th and Locust. Mumia Abu-Jamal, a witness to the original traffic stop, was taken into custody at the scene, injured in the chest with a single gunshot from Faulkner's service weapon. On July 3rd, 1982, Abu-Jamal was convicted of first-degree murder of Faulkner and then sentenced to death. His conviction was upheld by the state Supreme Court on appeal, and has been appealed to Federal courts on fair-trial and Constitutional grounds. During the course of the appeals, the case of Mumia Abu-Jamal has attracted significant attention from a wide variety of groups, and has come to be seen as a symbol by organizations with a range of goals and political affiliations. Some facts are not clear. Among the authors of sites in this category are those who argue that: - the original trial was unfair - the death penalty is inherently unfair - there is no excuse for the delay of final justice for Faulkner - political bias has tainted the issues - Abu-Jamal is only trying to delay his execution with endless appeals - the US criminal justice system is racially biased - Abu-Jamal should be incarcerated for life rather than executed - police coercion of witnesses made many of them alter their original testimony - Abu-Jamal was framed by police because of his role as a radical black journalist and former Black Panther - this case is part of a pattern of misconduct by Philadelphia police at the time. An attempt is made here to collect all available facts and opinions on the both the case and the controversy around it, so that readers can form their own opinions.

This category is for documents, allegations, or issues of human rights abuses in U.S. Prisons.