In the Declaration of Independence, the United States said that it would pay "decent respect to the Opinions of Mankind." With the use of the death penalty in the United States as a source of diplomatic contention, what does paying decent respect mean -- especially concerning the death penalty and juveniles or persons with mental retardation?

Harold Hongju Koh of Yale Law School will address the question during a lecture at UC Davis' School of Law Wednesday, Nov. 7.

He is the Gerard C. and Bernice Latrobe Smith Professor of International Law at Yale. As assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labor from 1998 to 2001, Koh was the U.S. government's chief human rights official and engaged in diplomacy on the subject through United Nations organizations.

In the spring, he authored a brief on behalf of nine former American diplomats related to the U.S. Supreme Court case of McCarver vs. North Carolina. The brief told the court that such executions create diplomatic friction, pit America against its allies, tarnish America's image as a human rights leader, and harm broader foreign policy interests. Another case raising the issue, Atkins vs. Virginia, will be heard by the Supreme Court in January.

The Edward L. Barrett Jr. Lecture, which is free and open to the public, will begin at 4 p.m. in the Moot Court Room of King Hall at UC Davis. The lectureship was established in 1986 to mark the School of Law's 20th anniversary and the retirement of its founding dean.