End architect participation in racist and cruel "law enforcement" projects.

ADPSR finds it completely unacceptable that the AIA’s National Ethics Council said earlier this year that designing an execution chamber is not unethical or that designing a solitary confinement cell might ever be acceptable. Even more unacceptable is NEC’s stated rationale: that it is OK to design execution chambers because they are legal and that "the norms of our society are reflected in its laws." The #Blacklivesmatter movement has revealed that racist laws and institutions must be changed - immediately.

Join us in demanding the American Institute of Architects to amend its Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct to prohibit the design of spaces for killing, torture, and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment. In the United States, this comprises the design of execution chambers; super-maximum security prisons (“supermax”), where solitary confinement is an intolerable form of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment; and solitary confinement facilities for juveniles and the mentally ill. 

There is no element of the American power structure more directly responsible for racial oppression than the criminal justice system: policing, prosecution, and incarceration. ADPSR has been calling on design professionals to boycott the design of prisons since 2004, and we have been petitioning the American Institute of Architects AIA to end the design of execution chambers and spaces for solitary confinement since 2013. In this deeply racist system, the death penalty is perhaps the most starkly racist policy we have: blacks and whites are equally likely to be victims of a capital crime, yet while the U.S. population is about 13% black, 75% of death penalty cases are when the victim is white. There is no policy in the United States that more clearly demonstrates that Black Lives Don’t Matter than the death penalty. Solitary confinement, an internationally condemned form of torture, is also grossly disproportionate in its racial use - but no one should be subjected to torture. The National Ethics Council failed to provide guidance to members about how to tell if their designs comply -- AIA must clarify that solitary confinement is unacceptable: if you're not sure if it's a violation, don't do it!

The AIA Board of Directors can overrule the National Ethics Council. If they won't, AIA Members can vote for a new policy (or new board members). Sign now to demand that the AIA Board of Directors respect black lives and all lives in the United States!

** You do not need to be an architect to sign this petition, and it is very valuable for AIA to hear from the general public on this issue. It is also important to track professional signatures-- If you are an AIA member or Architect, please include "AIA Member" or "Architect" in the "Why is this important to you" field.

For a deeper dive into the history of this petition, read the New York Times article here: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/12/arts/design/architects-prison-death-chamber.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share