|
AGE AT WHICH ALL SUSPECTS ARE
TRIED AS ADULTS
(The death penalty is forbidden in all states
for those under the age
of 18 at the time of their crime following the Supreme Court's ruling
in Roper v. Simmons (2005))
|
AGE
|
STATES
|
| SIXTEEN AND ABOVE (3 states) |
Connecticut, New York, North Carolina |
| SEVENTEEN AND ABOVE (9 states) |
Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, New
Hampshire,
South Carolina, Texas, Wisconsin |
| EIGHTEEN
AND ABOVE (38 states plus the District of Columbia) |
Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado,
Delaware,
Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine,
Maryland,
Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New
Jersey,
New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode
Island,
South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West
Virginia,
Wyoming, plus the District of Columbia |
(source: Pamela Ferdinand, "Seventeen an
Awkward
Age, N.H. Juvenile Justice Finds," Washington Post, Mar. 27, 2002,
citing
the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Programs)
THE
EXECUTION
OF JUVENILES IN THE U. S.
The first execution of a juvenile offender was in 1642 with Thomas
Graunger
in Plymouth Colony, Massachesetts. In the 360 years since that time, a
total of approximately 365 persons have been executed for juvenile
crimes,
constituting 1.8% of roughly 20,000 confirmed American executions since
1608. Twenty-two of these executions for juvenile crimes have been
imposed since the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976. These 22
recent executions of juvenile offenders make up about 2% of the total
executions
since 1976.
JUVENILES EXECUTED IN THE
UNITED
STATES IN THE MODERN ERA (Since January 1, 1973)
| Name |
Date of Execution |
Place of Execution |
Race |
Age at Crime |
Age at Execution |
| Charles Rumbaugh |
9/11/85
|
Texas |
White |
17
|
28
|
| J. Terry Roach |
1/10/86
|
South Carolina |
White |
17
|
25
|
| Jay Pinkerton |
5/15/86
|
Texas |
White |
17
|
24
|
| Dalton Prejean |
5/18/90
|
Louisiana |
Black |
17
|
30
|
| Johnny Garrett |
2/11/92
|
Texas |
White |
17
|
28
|
| Curtis Harris |
7/1/93
|
Texas |
Black |
17
|
31
|
| Frederick Lashley |
7/28/93
|
Missouri |
Black |
17
|
29
|
| Ruben Cantu |
8/24/93
|
Texas |
Latino |
17
|
26
|
| Chris Burger |
12/7/93
|
Georgia |
White |
17
|
33
|
| Joseph Cannon |
4/22/98
|
Texas |
White |
17
|
38
|
| Robert Carter |
5/18/98 |
Texas |
Black |
17 |
34 |
| Dwayne Allen Wright |
10/14/98
|
Virginia |
Black |
17
|
24
|
| Sean Sellers |
2/4/99
|
Oklahoma |
White |
16
|
29
|
| Douglas Christopher Thomas |
1/10/00
|
Virginia |
White |
17
|
26
|
| Steven Roach |
1/13/00
|
Virginia |
White |
17
|
23
|
| Glen McGinnis |
1/25/00
|
Texas |
Black |
17
|
27
|
| Shaka Sankofa (Gary Graham) |
6/22/00
|
Texas |
Black |
17
|
36
|
| Gerald Mitchell |
10/22/01
|
Texas |
Black |
17
|
33
|
| Napoleon Beazley |
5/28/02
|
Texas |
Black |
17
|
25
|
| T.J. Jones |
8/8/02
|
Texas |
Black
|
17
|
25
|
| Toronto Patterson |
8/28/02
|
Texas |
Black
|
17
|
24
|
| Scott Allen Hain |
4/3/03
|
Oklahoma |
White |
17
|
32
|
THE
EXECUTION OF JUVENILES IN OTHER COUNTRIES
The death penalty for juvenile offenders appears to have been
abandoned by nations everywhere in large part due to the express
provisions of the United Nations
Convention on the Rights of the Child and of several other
international
treaties and agreements. Since 1990, juvenile offenders are known
to have been executed in only seven countries: China, Democratic
Republic of Congo,
Iran, Pakistan, Yemen, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, and the United States.
- Victor L. Streib, "The
Juvenile Death Penalty Today: Death Sentences and Executions for
Juvenile
Crimes January 1973 - September 30, 2003" (2003)
REPORTED EXECUTIONS OF JUVENILE OFFENDERS IN
OTHER
COUNTRIES SINCE 1990
| Country |
Name
of Prisoner |
Age at crime
(C), sentence (S), or execution(E) |
Year of Death |
Notes |
CHINA
|
Zhao Lin
|
16 (C), 18 (E)
|
2003
|
China revised a law in 1997
forbidding the execution of defendants under age 18 at the time of the
crime, but juveniles continuie to be executed due to insufficient care
in determining the age of defendants.
|
| DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO |
Kasongo |
14 (C/E) |
2000 |
In 2001, the death sentences of five
children were commuted. At the time of writing there was a moratorium
on executions in effect. |
| IRAN |
Kazeem Shirafkan |
17 (E) |
1990 |
In December 2003, a bill to
raise the
minimum age to 18 was approved by the parliament, but must still
receive the approval of the highest governing body in Iran, the
Guardian Council, to become law.
|
| Male (name unknown) |
16 (E) |
1992 |
| Male (name unknown) |
17 (E) |
1992 |
| Male (name unknown) |
17 (E) |
1992 |
| Ebrahim Qorbanzadeh |
17 (E) |
1999 |
| Jasem Abrahimi |
17 (E) |
2000 |
| Mehrdad Youssefi |
16 (C) |
2001 |
Mohammad Mohammadzadeh
|
17 (C), 21 (E)
|
2004
|
| NIGERIA |
Chiebore Onuoha |
15 (C) |
1997 |
|
| PAKISTAN |
Name Unknown |
17 (E) |
1992 |
In July 2000, the Juvenile
Justice System Ordinance was
promulgated, abolishing the death penalty for anyone under 18 at the
time
of the crime. In July 2002 it was announced that 74 young offenders
had been taken off death row. |
| Shamun Masih |
14 (C) |
1997 |
| Ali Sher |
13 (C) |
2001 |
| SAUDI ARABIA |
Sadeq Mal-Allah |
17 (S) |
1992 |
|
| YEMEN |
Nasser Munir Nasser al'Kirbi |
13 (E) |
1993 |
In 1994 Yemen abolished the death penalty
for people under 18 at the
time of the crime. |
(Source: Amnesty International "Indecent
and Internationally Illegal: The Death Penalty Against Child Offenders"
September 2002, with updated information from Amnesty International: Execution of
Child Offenders - Updated Summary of Cases.)
|
