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.
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| 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
