Juveniles on Alabama's Death Row

JUVENILE DEATH PENALTY

- History and Analysis

Spring 2002
Prepared by the Juvenile Death Penalty Initiative:

Steven Drizin

Children and Family Justice Center at Bluhm Legal Clinic
of the Northwestern University School of Law

Stephen Harper

Florida Justice Institute Anne James

Sadie Rosenthal

THE 22 STATES RETAINING THE JUVENILE DEATH PENALTY SHOULD JOIN THE GROWING NUMBER OF STATES WHICH HAVE RECOGNIZED THAT THE EXECUTION OP JUVENILE OFFENDERS IS UNACCEPTABLE IN A HUMANE AND CIVILIZED SOCIETY

A majority of states have recognized that subjecting adolescents to the death penalty is contrary to basic principles of American justice and to evolving standards of decency. Of the thirty-eight states that permit the death penalty, only twenty-three permit the execution of persons for crimes committed under die age of eighteen. Of those twenty-three states, only sixteen have juvenile offenders on their death rows. Of those sixteen states, only seven have earned out actual executions since the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976.

In 1988, the United States Supreme Court held that it would be cruel and unusual punishment under die Eighth Amendment of the United States Constitution to execute offenders under the age of sixteen. Since the Supreme Court's decision, several states and the federal government have modified their laws to abolish or restrict the application of the death penalty to juveniles:

On March 26, 2002, Governor O'Bannon signed S. 426, eliminating the juvenile death penalty in Indiana. The bill was approved overwhelmingly by the Indiana Legislature with a vote of 83-10 in the House and 44-3 in the Senate.

In 1999, the State of Montana abolished the death penalty for juvenile offenders while the Florida Supreme Court raised the age of eligibility from sixteen to seventeen.

In 1988, when the federal death penalty was reinstated, and later in 1994 when it was further expanded. Congress specifically excluded offenders under the age of 18 from eligibility.

In the midst of this current national reexamination of capital punishment, several other states are reviewing their death penalty practices and have either introduced legislation to abolish the juvenile death penalty or are considering such legislation. States considering this issue in 2001 and 2002 include: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Texas.

In 2001, the Arizona Capital Case Commission recommended that the Legislature eliminate the death penalty for offenders under 18, while in Texas a bill passed in the House. In 2002, a bill to abolish the death penalty passed the Florida Senate unanimously but the legislature was adjourned before House could consider it (the House passed a similar bill in 2001). In Kentucky the Governor announced that he would sign a bill, and a University of Kentucky poll indicated that 8 out of 10 Kentuckians opposed the juvenile death penalty.

The majority of states with the Juvenile death penalty have relatively few Juvenile offenders on death row, only a handful of states have actually executed a Juvenile offender since the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976.

THE 22 STATES RETAINING THE JUVENILE DEATH PENALTY SHOULD JOIN THE ALMOST UNIVERSAL CONSENSUS THAT THE EXECUTION OF JUVENILE OFFENDERS VIOLATES INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS STANDARDS

Since 1990, executions of juvenile have reportedly occurred in seven countries: Iran, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, the United States, Yemen and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Since the year 2000, only three countries have reportedly executed juvenile offenders, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Iran, and the United States. In 2001, both Nigeria and Saudi Arabia made statements at a U.N. meeting that they no longer execute juvenile offenders.

Several international treaties, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), and the American Convention of Human Rights prohibit the use of the death penalty against juveniles.

Every country in the world, except for the United States and the collapsed state of Somalia, have ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which includes a prohibition on the juvenile death penalty.

The United States has ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which specifically prohibits executing juveniles, but has reserved the right to continue executing Juveniles.

The UN High Commission for Human Rights, which interprets the ICCPR, has concluded that the United States reservation should be considered void because it violates the object and purpose of the treaty.

Eleven countries have filed formal objections to the United States reservation to the ICCPR.

The United States' full participation in international human rights law, such as the ICCPR and CRC, is frustrated by the continuing use of the juvenile death penalty. Other nations may well claim that it is hypocritical for the United States to call on them to correct their human rights violations when it continues to violate this fundamental tenet of international human rights law. By disregarding international agreements and being unresponsive to its allies, the United States is establishing itself as a human rights violator rather than enforcer.

At its best, the United States serves as an example and a protector of human rights throughout the world. However, the continued execution of juvenile offenders alienates the United States from the international community. Each juvenile execution further damages our legitimacy as a leader in the protection of human rights, particularly the rights of children.

For further information please contact Anne James or Sadie Rosenthal at the above addresses.

Also, see: www.wcl.american.edu/humright/deathpenalty