SOERING v. THE UNITED KINGDOM JUDGMENT 34 (b) The particular circumstances 105. The applicant submitted that the circumstances to which he would be exposed as a consequence of the implementation of the Secretary of State’s decision to return him to the United States, namely the "death row phenomenon", cumulatively constituted such serious treatment that his extradition would be contrary to Article 3 (art. 3). He cited in particular the delays in the appeal and review procedures following a death sentence, during which time he would be subject to increasing tension and psychological trauma; the fact, so he said, that the judge or jury in determining sentence is not obliged to take into account the defendant’s age and mental state at the time of the offence; the extreme conditions of his future detention on "death row" in Mecklenburg Correctional Center, where he expects to be the victim of violence and sexual abuse because of his age, colour and nationality; and the constant spectre of the execution itself, including the ritual of execution. He also relied on the possibility of extradition or deportation, which he would not oppose, to the Federal Republic of Germany as accentuating the disproportionality of the Secretary of State’s decision. The Government of the Federal Republic of Germany took the view that, taking all the circumstances together, the treatment awaiting the applicant in Virginia would go so far beyond treatment inevitably connected with the imposition and execution of a death penalty as to be "inhuman" within the meaning of Article 3 (art. 3). On the other hand, the conclusion expressed by the Commission was that the degree of severity contemplated by Article 3 (art. 3) would not be attained. The United Kingdom Government shared this opinion. In particular, they disputed many of the applicant’s factual allegations as to the conditions on death row in Mecklenburg and his expected fate there. i. Length of detention prior to execution 106. The period that a condemned prisoner can expect to spend on death row in Virginia before being executed is on average six to eight years (see paragraph 56 above). This length of time awaiting death is, as the Commission and the United Kingdom Government noted, in a sense largely of the prisoner’s own making in that he takes advantage of all avenues of appeal which are offered to him by Virginia law. The automatic appeal to the Supreme Court of Virginia normally takes no more than six months (see paragraph 52 above). The remaining time is accounted for by collateral attacks mounted by the prisoner himself in habeas corpus proceedings before both the State and Federal courts and in applications to the Supreme Court of the United States for certiorari review, the prisoner at each stage being able to seek a stay of execution (see paragraphs 53-54 above). The