France was found guilty of torture and of excessively lengthy judicial proceedings by the European Court of Human Rights which, in a separate judgment, also found the French authorities had breached international norms on the length of preventive detention. There were allegations of ill-treatment and use of excessive force by law enforcement officers, sometimes resulting in fatal or near-fatal incidents. Prison guards were also accused of ill-treatment and prisons were criticized for cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. Courts appeared to remain reluctant to convict police officers for crimes of violence or excessive force, or to uphold sentences that attempted to reflect the seriousness of the crime. In some cases prosecutors appeared to play an active part in perpetuating a situation of effective impunity where police officers were concerned.

More prisoners were executed in 1999 than in any year since 1951. Police brutality, deaths in custody and ill-treatment in prisons and jails were reported. In October the US submitted its initial report to the UN Committee against Torture, five years after ratifying the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. The report acknowledged there were areas of concern but stated that torture did not occur except "in aberrational situations and never as a matter of policy". US authorities continued to violate international standards protecting children. AI's year-long worldwide campaign against human rights violations in the USA continued throughout most of the year. It called on the authorities at local, state and federal level to take action on a wide range of human rights concerns including the death penalty, police brutality, prison and jail conditions and the treatment of refugees, and called on the government to ratify international human rights treaties.