Juvenile and the Death Penalty

Juvenile and Death Penalty Introduction Over the decades, there have been intense debates about the extent to which children should be punished for their crimes. According to international human rights law, the use of Children cannot be held to the same standard of accountability as adults for their crimes.

Individuals below the age of 18 are considered to be children, thus, according to the international human rights law, should not be subjected to the death penalty. Ideally, juvenile offenders should not be executed because they are still young enough for their character and behavior to be remedied through less harsh corrective measures.

Juveniles and Full Adult Responsibility Across the world, the issue of whether the death sentence is appropriate for children who commit heinious crimes is still controversial. In the United States, studies of brain science and development in childhood have facilitated the abolition of capital punishment by several states. Some justices point out that until the age of 21, an individual is not an adult, therefore cannot be punished in the same way as an adult.

Buy this excellently written paper or order a fresh one from ace-myhomework.com

In 1642, a 16-year-old was sentenced to murder for repeated acts of beastiality. Since then, there were approximately 366 more executions until 2005 when the death penalty was outlawed. Roper v. Simmons has been one of the most influential cases in the matter of juveniles and death penalty. The last death penalty was meted out in 1964 when an AfricanAmerican teen was executed for rape (Scherdin, 2016). Following his execution, the application of the death penalty on children was heavily criticized, and albeit not unlawful, it was viewed as an excessive form of punishment. In 2005, prior to a verdict on the case, there were seventy-one juvenile offenders under death penalty. Although convicted at ages 16 and 17 years old, they ranged between ages 18 and 43 years old by the time of the decision on Simmons. In its ruling, the Supreme Court declared that the death sentence contravened the law on excessive and cruel punishment contained in the constitution of the United States.

Opponents of juvenile capital punishment argued that it was an excessive form of punishment and was unfair since it was often meted out for reason such as rage, hatred and discrimination (Dowd, & Ogletree, 2016). It was found that the death penalty was wont to be discriminative since some groups of people were often punished far more harshly than others for equal or less severe crimes. This is best illustrated by the fact that approximately 50 percent of those executed were African Americans.

Executing children is cruel and uncivilized. While it is possible for children to commit heinous crimes that require punishment, their minds are not fully developed hence it is possible to use a variety of corrective measures to remedy their negative attitudes and behavior. Allowing children to face the death penalty defies the rationale of using the legal system to promote the rehabilitation of wayward children (Krisberg, Marchionna, & Hartney,

2014). The death penalty is problematic because it involves adults meting out an extreme form of punishment on children, whom they are supposed to be protecting. Additionally, it shifts the attention from the cause of the child’s behavior to the consequences of their behavior. Most children who are involved in criminal activity lack the mental, social, and psychological capacity to fully understand their behavior; therefore placing children on equal footing with adults who have a more developed understanding of the consequences of their behavior is unjust. In most cases, children who commit crimes come from backgrounds that place them at a direct disadvantage over their peers such as physical, and sexual abuse, witnessing domestic violence extreme neglect, parental mental illness, poor parenting thus lack of moral guidance, illiteracy and untreated mental disorders.

Individuals below the age of 18 are still not fully mentally developed, and cannot be expected to act in the same way as an adult who is fully aware of the consequences of their actions. As a result, they cannot be held to the same culpability as an adult. It is unfair for the law that is meant to protect and reform them to further enforce the extremely punitive punishment method (Garrett, 2017). Capital punishment breeds a society where children are blamed for the actions or inactions of their environment, instead of providing an environment where children are assisted to overcome their challenges and develop into responsible welladjusted citizens.

Conclusion Executing individuals under the age of 18 is uncivilized and cruel. The death penalty assumes that children have the mental and psychological ability to fully understand the consequences of their decisions. The constitution should act in the best interest of children by working towards the care and protection of children. Causatives such as mental disorders,

parental neglect, abuse and poverty should be addressed to minimize the child’s affinity to criminal activity. And where children are already involved in crime, the law should work to ensure that they are well rehabilitated and also punished appropriately.

Reference Dowd, N., & Ogletree, C. (2016). A new juvenile justice system. New York: New York University Press.

Garrett, B. (2017). End of Its Rope: How Killing the Death Penalty Can Revive Criminal Justice. Harvard University Press.

Krisberg, B., Marchionna, S., & Hartney, C. (2014). American corrections. SAGE. Scherdin, L. (2016). Capital Punishment. London: Taylor and Francis.