International data on political imprisonment is not objective

International documentation of political-prisoner cases reflects strategic priorities and capacity constraints of data-collecting actors, argued Katrin Kinzelbach and Janika Spannagel during a May 24 briefing at Amnesty International’s headquarters in London. Based on quantitative data covering 26 worst-offender countries, they showed that the US government surpassed Amnesty’s caseload in 2008, mentioning more names in public than the NGO best known for political prisoner advocacy.