Newark, NJ -- The majority of Guantanamo detainees rather than being a serious threat to their guards pose a more substantial danger to themselves, according to the third Seton Hall Law School Report on Guantanamo Detainees, released by Seton Hall University School of Law Professor of Law Mark P. Denbeaux, Joshua Denbeaux, a 1991 graduate of Seton Hall Law, and eight Seton Hall Law School students.

The comprehensive study, based on the United States government’s own documents and public statements, examines the disciplinary violations of the detainees and their proclivity to suicide. The government’s claim that the June 10th suicides were acts of “Asymmetric Warfare” is refuted by its own data. This data does not support the Department of Defense’s assertion that the detainees are not serious about taking their own lives. It also demonstrates pervasive depression and persistent acts of self- harm among the detainees. The report is the first effort to provide a more detailed picture of detainees’ behavior at Guantanamo.

The government has uniformly portrayed the detainees as highly dangerous, even in their confined and restricted environment. The government also has withheld the actual number of suicide attempts, instead using euphemisms to re-categorize suicides as “manipulative self-injurious behavior” or “hanging gestures,” noted Professor Denbeaux. The government’s own records contradict its characterization of the three recent suicides as public relations gestures or acts of asymmetrical warfare.

“According to the government’s own records, the detainees do primarily one of two things: attempt suicide and spit at the guards. It is amazing how few disciplinary violations there are and how many suicide attempts. The attempts to minimize these numbers produce an Orwellian vocabulary that would be amusing if the subject were not so deadly serious,” said Professor Denbeaux.

“If the government’s own statements and data are correct, the government’s claim that the recent suicides are public relations stunts is itself a public relations stunt designed to hide the truth,” added Joshua Denbeaux.

The Seton Hall Report findings show:

• The detainees attempt suicide more often than they assault guards. On a per-day basis, the detainees commit self-injurious acts more often than they commit any disciplinary violations.
   
• While the recent suicides by three detainees has led the government to characterize these acts and previous actions of detainees as acts of “asymmetrical warfare,” no act of asymmetric warfare is contained in any Incident Report of Disciplinary Violations.
   
• 759 of the detainees committed 460 acts of “manipulative self-injurious behavior” within a two-year span.
   
• The disciplinary reports reveal more “hanging gestures” by detainees than there are physical assaults on guards.
   
• Most of the disciplinary violations have been for relatively trivial acts; 43 percent of the reported Disciplinary Violations were for spitting at staff.
   
• According to the government’s own reports, the most serious injuries sustained by guards as a result of disciplinary misconduct were a handful of cuts and scratches.
   
• For the 736 of the 952 days covered by the Incident Reports, the government has released no report of a disciplinary violation.

The third Seton Hall Report on Guantanamo Detainees provides full documentation of the data upon which it is based and includes a complete analysis of various aspects of that data in addition to the findings. The earlier reports examined and profiled 517 detainees.

Professor Denbeaux is principal author; his co-authors are Joshua Denbeaux, Esq. of Denbeaux & Denbeaux, Westwood, NJ, and eight students from Seton Hall Law School: David Gratz and John Gregorek, class of ’07, and Matthew Darby, Shana Edwards, Shane Hartman, Daniel Mann, Megan Sassaman and Helen Skinner class of ’08.

Professor Denbeaux can be contacted at 201-214-6785 (cell), 973.642.8822 (office) or denbeama@shu.edu. Joshua Denbeaux can be contacted at 201-970-6534 or at Denbeaux & Denbeaux at 201-664-8855.

All three reports can be accessed at law.shu.edu 

The only private law school in New Jersey, Seton Hall University School of Law was founded in 1951, and is located in the city of Newark. Seton Hall Law School offers both day and evening programs leading to the Juris Doctor (J.D.), Master of Laws (LL.M.) and Master of Science in Jurisprudence (M.S.J.) degrees. For more information on Seton Hall Law School, visit law.shu.edu.