Executing Child Criminals

Executing child criminals

Sixteen states set 18 as the minimum age at the time of commission of a crime for a person to be eligible for the death penalty. Five states have 17 years as the minimum age including FL, GA, NH, NC, TX. Seventeen states set 16 as the minimum age including AL, AZ, AR, DE, ID, KY, LA, MS, MO, NV, OK, PA, SC, SD, UT, VA, WY.




Blue: States with no Death Penalty
Yellow: States that have a Death Penalty

1988: Execution banned where criminal was 15 years of age or younger: In the U.S. Supreme Court case Thompson v. Oklahoma, a boy had been convicted of having actively participating in a brutal murder when he was 15 years of age. The court ruled that capital punishment in the U.S. was unconstitutional if applied to a child who was 15 years of age or younger at the time of the offense
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1989: Execution OK if criminal was 16 or 17 years of age: In the case of Stanford v. Kentucky, the U.S. Supreme Court, allowed the executions of two males who were children at the time they committed murder. Kevin Stanford was about 17 years, 4 months of age. Heath Wilkins was about 16 years, 6 months of age. The vote was 5 to 4 -- a common result on rulings involving morality and ethics.

"Execution of Juveniles in the U.S. and Other Countries." Execution of Juveniles in the U.S. and Other Countries. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2015

Capital Punishment

Capital Punishment is also known as the death penalty. This is the execution of people who been found guilty of offenses considered to be capital crimes. Supporters of capital punishment believe that some crimes, especially murder, are so serious and so destructive to society that the perpetrators deserve the most severe punishment. Many of these people believe that the death penalty is a deterrent to crime.

The Fifth Amendment to the Constitution recognizes the existence of capital punishment and outlines conditions for trying individuals accused of capital crimes. 

This means that before an execution, certain legal procedures—such as formal arrest, charges, and a trial—must be followed.

Cases:

Brown v. Sanders

In 1981, Ronald Sanders and an accomplice broke into the Bakersfield, California home of Dale Boender and his girlfriend, Janice Allen, seeking to rob Boender of his stash of cocaine. Sanders struck the victims on the head with a blunt object, injuring Boender and killing Allen. Sanders was convicted of first-degree murder, attempted murder, robbery, burglary, and attempted robbery. The jury found four factors, called "special circumstances" in California, which made Sanders eligible for the death penalty. The circumstances included committing murder during the course of a robbery, the killing of a witness to a crime, committing murder during the course of a burglary, and committing a murder that was "especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel." The jury then considered a list of sentencing factors during the penalty phase, one of which was the circumstances of the crimes Sanders committed. The jury sentenced Sanders to death.
   

"Capital Punishment." Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection. Detroit: Gale, 2015. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 10 Nov. 2015