Juveniles and the Death Penalty

For a long period of time, the death penalty for minors (those under 18) was perfectly acceptable in the United States, and minors were being sentenced to death for committing capital offenses. However, the Supreme Court had ruled in Thompson v. Oklahoma that due to an “evolving standard of decency”, that executing offenders of capital offenses under the age of fifteen was unconstitutional under the Eighth Amendment, which safeguards against cruel and unusual punishment. Later that year, in Stanford v. Kentucky, Justice Scalia, a proponent of the death penalty, stated that the Eighth Amendment did not prohibit offenders of capital offenses older than fifteen at the time of their offense from being sentenced to death. Finally, in 2003, the Missouri Supreme Court ruled in Simmons v . Roper, that executing juvenile offenders “violates evolving standards of decency” and is therefore unconstitutional, as it violates the Eighth Amendment protection against cruel and unusual punishment. This takes the same approach that the Supreme Court took in Thompson v. Oklahoma, but takes it a step further to include all juvenile defenders, as opposed to just those under the age of fifteen. In 1976, in Gregg v. Georgia, the Court ruled that the punishment must contribute “measurably” to retribution, deterrence, or both. If it does not contribute to those, then it must be deemed excessive, and violates the constitution. It also stated that capital punishment must be reserved for those “materially more depraved”, and should not be used for just the “normal” murderer. These are meant to carry out sentences in accordance with the degree of the offender’s culpability. Due to the inherent limitations of juveniles and their developing mind, capital punishment does not contribute towards retribution or deterrence, therefore making capital punishment against juveniles disproportionate, and unconstitutional. Ultimately, in 2005, the Supreme Court ruled that sentencing those who committed capital offenses that were under the age of eighteen at the time to death is unconstitutional. Prior to this, since the reinstatement of the death penalty in the United States in 1976, 22 juveniles were executed for committing capital offenses.

Thoughts for later: I agree that the executing kids whose brains aren’t fully developed is not justice and definitely not proportionate to their crime, but how is executing those who are adults and commit heinous crimes a suitable punishment? Wouldn’t it make more sense to have them sit in a prison cell for the rest of their life as opposed to just executing them and that's it?

Works Cited:

James, Anne and Joanne Cecil. "Out of Step: Juvenile Death Penalty in the United States." International Journal of Children's Rights, vol. 11, no. 3, July 2003, pp. 291-303. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1163/157181804322794440.