Juvenile capital punishment in the US?!

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smoking revolver
Valued Senior Member
Hello, I have a question that I need answered for a paper I'm writing and I would appreciate any US citizens willing to help me with correct and current information.

Is it within the law to sentence juveniles to death within any of the US states as of this moment? Is it practiced? What is the most recent juvenile death sentence?
By that I mean persons16 and 17 years old.

I would especially welcome links to state laws allowing it, if there are such.

Thank you!

p.s. My information is old, dated 2003, published in 2005.
 
Now they need to look at juvenile life without parole

A new report by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch (HRW) found that at least 2,225 prisoners in the United States are serving life without parole for crimes they committed as minors. The sentence is rare elsewhere in the world — a total of 12 child offenders are serving life terms in Israel, South Africa and Tanzania. But in the United States, two decades of mandatory sentencing laws and increasing prosecutorial discretion to try children as adults have created an entire population of young prisoners who will live the rest of their days behind bars.
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http://www.amnestyusa.org/Spring_20...t_Parole/page.do?id=1105357&n1=2&n2=19&n3=392
 
Well the problem with your figures is that the population in U.S is that much larger than the ones in your quote. I am sure if you crunched the numbers you will see what i am referring to.
 
About time by the way, then with Sudan they were the only counties in the world still practicing it.

This was written in 2003 and publicized before the Supreme Court ruling

The United States stands virtually isolated concerning the execution of criminals under the age of eighteen, especially in comparison with other democratic nations. How can the United States justify its policy? Although international opinion is not completely determinative in interpreting the United States Constitution, it should be a strongly considered factor. [FN198] Additionally, radical changes have occurred within the international climate since Stanford. Almost all countries have banned juvenile execution based upon treaties and conventions condemning the practice. [FN199] No special set of *725 circumstances exist by which the United States could defend its position to the rest of the world. The United States continues to violate a jus cogens norm against the execution of juveniles who are sixteen-years-old at the time of their crimes. [FN200] No longer is the issue of juvenile execution merely restrained to opinions. The United States will now be judged by international courts all over the world. The United States cannot continue to justify derogations of treaty clauses through reservations. Instead of stubbornly adhering to geo-centric jurisprudence, the Supreme Court should hear the global cry to end the death penalty when applied to juveniles.
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SPARE THE DEATH PENALTY, SPOIL THE CHILD: HOW THE EXECUTION OF
JUVENILES VIOLATES THE EIGHTH AMENDMENT'S BAN ON CRUEL AND UNUSUAL PUNISHMENT
IN 2005

Copyright © 2003 South Texas Law Review, Inc.; Carrie Martin
 
John:

No the problem is those other figures (and thats a sum, not an average) are the only other figures. :)
 
Innocent kids die every day Avatar- hundreds of them....thousands of them. Your concern for a 17 year old who commits multiple murders is, perhaps, misplaced.
 
My paper isn't about kids really, I was just looking for instances where major state actors have ignored jus cogens norms and use that info as a part of one argument.
 
John99 said:
Innocent kids die every day Avatar- hundreds of them....thousands of them. Your concern for a 17 year old who commits multiple murders is, perhaps, misplaced.
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Oh, I know! Just at the and of last year I witnessed the defence of one such individual. He har robbed little kids of their mobile phones and bikes, kidnapped and raped two teenagers, one of them retarded, and also robbed an appartment.

Disgusting, disgusting individual, living horror really. His defence lawyer had trobule even writing on his behalf.

However I believe that we don't have the moral authority to judge over life and death. Gladly all of Europe agrees and has eliminated capital punishment.
 
S.A.M. said:
jus cogens norms

Whats that?
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That is a very good question! And one of the harderst theoretical questions you can ask to an international law specialist.

To give a short answer
Within the category of general principles of law, there are also peremptory norms of general international law, defined as "a norm accepted and recognized by the international community of States as a whole as a norm from which no derogation is permitted and which can be modified only by a subsequent norm of general international law having the same character." [FN124] These peremptory norms are called jus cogens. [FN125] The importance of rules with the status of jus cogens is that they cannot be abrogated by treaty, [FN126] and states cannot avoid them through persistent objection. [FN127] The concept of jus cogens is generally accepted in the international community; however, there is little agreement on which particular rules have achieved that status. [FN128] An example of rules that are generally accepted as jus cogens are the principles contained in the United Nations Charter that prohibit the use of force except in self-defense. [FN129]
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Add to it also slavery, torture, genocide and widespread rape.
 
Avatar said:
However I believe that we don't have the moral authority to judge over life and death. Gladly all of Europe agrees and has eliminated capital punishment.
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But then the does the criminal have moral authority?

In the case you desribed would you consider the perpetatrator to be sane? Are those the actions of a sane person? No they are not.

Yet you would convict someone and sentencing them to long prison term who, at the time, for all intents and purposes was criminally insane. So then your moral authority is an illusion. By the same token would you want that person to be rehabilitated by therapists and psychiatrists AND to be able to come live with you? Society has to deal with this burden but at the same time has to protect the public.:)
 
Actually he was not insane. He was admitted to be mentally handicapped, but not beyond being able to control himself or understand what he's doing.

But then the does the criminal have moral authority?
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No, he doesn't. However if we become like criminals we are no better than them.

Yet you would convict someone and sentencing them to long prison term who, at the time, for all intents and purposes was criminally insane.
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Insane people are ill and they get treated.
 
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