Chronology of Human Rights Violations of the United States in 2015

SEPTEMBER

Sept. 1

According to a report, titled "Crime in the United States 2014", released by the FBI, an estimated 1,165,383 violent crimes occurred nationwide in 2014, of which 63.6 percent were aggravated assaults, 28 percent were robberies, 7.2 percent rapes and 1.2 percent murders. Firearms were used in 67.9 percent of the nation's murders, 40.3 percent of robberies, and 22.5 percent of aggravated assaults in 2014. Nationwide, there were an estimated 8,277,829 property crimes, with the victims of such crimes suffering losses calculated at an estimated 14.3 billion U.S. dollars.

Sept. 9

The USA Today website reported that according to a poll released by the National Bar Association in the United States, 88 percent of African Americans believed African Americans are treated unfairly by police, and 59 percent of whites shared that view.

Sept. 10

The US government blocked the release of documents detailing the alleged torture of a suspected top al-Qaida operative held in Guantanamo Bay, said the Daily Mail of Britain on its website. Abu Zubaydah, a 44-year-old Saudi national, was captured in 2002 and has been held in Guantanamo since 2006. According to documents released last year, he lost an eye and was waterboarded 83 times in a single month while in the custody of the CIA at Guantanamo Bay. Joe Margulies, Zubaydah's lead defense lawyer, said the CIA declared all the 116 pages of testimony by Zubaydah classified.

Sept. 16

The USA Today website reported that a former employee is suing Microsoft, alleging the technology giant discriminates against women in technical roles. Microsoft policies and practices "systematically violate female technical employees' rights and result in the unchecked gender bias that pervades its corporate culture", charges the lawsuit, which is seeking class action status.

Sept. 18

According to a report released on the Institute for Policy Innovation website, there were still 33 million people in the U.S. uninsured in 2014, although the incumbent US president promised to sign a universal healthcare bill into law by the end of his first term.

Sept. 21

The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times reported on their websites that a survey released by the Association of American Universities that covered more than 150,000 students at 27 universities showed that more than one in four female undergraduate students say they have been victimized by nonconsensual sexual contact. In California, 29.7 percent of female undergraduates at the University of Southern California reported the most serious sexual misconduct. Nationally, the rate of such misconduct ranged from 13 percent to 30 percent across campuses.

Sept. 22

The Washington Post reported that those who were not Christians found it difficult to run for a post in public office in the United States. And it was more difficult for those who did not have a religious belief. A Pew poll found that of all religion-related groups, atheists and Muslims were viewed the most negatively by Americans.

Sept. 23

The Washington Post website reported that Keith Harrison McLeod, an unarmed 19-year-old African-American man, was shot by police in Reisterstown, Maryland, after they were called to a pharmacy after the man attempted to fill a prescription that had been forged. After a short chase, officers confronted the man.