AMNESTY'S REPORT ON U.S. ABUSES SPURS PROBE

The Justice Department plans to review concerns raised by Amnesty
International, which yesterday launched a yearlong campaign taking the
United States to task for human-rights violations and calling on the
country to set up independent bodies to monitor allegations of police
brutality and other abuses.

Justice Department spokeswoman Christine DiBartolo said some of the
cases cited in London-based Amnesty's report already are under
investigation.

The Amnesty report cited abuses such as "widespread and persistent"
police brutality, "endemic" physical and sexual violence against
prisoners, "racist" application of the death penalty and use of
"high-tech repression tools" such as electro-shock devices and
incapacitating chemical sprays.

Stun guns, like any tool, can be misused, said Gerald Arenberg, a
spokesman for the National Association of Chiefs of Police. But "it's
actually one of the better devices, if used properly."

Arenberg also acknowledged that police can benefit from oversight,
urging those who believe they have been victimized to contact such
authorities as the FBI or state attorneys.

"I think we do need someone watching over our shoulders," Arenberg
said.

Amnesty also challenges what it says is the U.S. practice of
imprisoning foreign citizens who arrive seeking political asylum,
sometimes putting them in jail for months with convicted criminals.

Immigration and Naturalization Service officials stressed that people
are not detained simply for seeking asylum and denied that they are
detained for prolonged periods.

"The seeking of asylum is not what gets you in detention," said INS
spokesman Andrew Lluberes. Those who enter the country without proper
documents or who falsify their identity can be placed in the expedited
removal process, but can be granted asylum by an immigration judge, he
said.

Checked-by: Patrick Henry