Death Sentences and Executions for Juvenile Crimes

The following excerpts are from "The Juvenile Death Penalty Today: Death Sentences and Executions for Juvenile Crimes January 1973 - December 31, 2004" by Professor Victor L. Strieb, former Dean and Professor of law at Ohio Northern University, now at Elon University Law School. The report is a comprehensive quarterly review of juveniles on death row in the United States, and the modern history of the death penalty in the United States as it relates to juvenile defendants. These excerpts are reprinted with permission.



OVERVIEW OF THOSE WHO WERE UNDER JUVENILE DEATH SENTENCES


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As of December 31, 2004, 71 persons were on death row for juvenile crimes. These 71 condemned juveniles constituted about 2% of the total death row population of 3,487. Although all were ages 16 or 17 at the time of their crimes, their current ages range from 18 to 43. They were under death sentences in 12 different states and had been on death row from 4 months to 24 years. Texas had by far the largest death row for juvenile offenders, holding 29 (40%) of the national total of 72 juvenile offenders.

All of the juvenile offenders who were on death row are male and had been convicted and sentenced to death for murder. w.

Over three-quarters of these cases involved 17 year old offenders, and two-thirds of them were offenders of color.

*States:That Have Executed Juveniles*

1}VIRGINIA (1)
(Last Execution of a Juvenile: January 19, 2000)
2}TEXAS (29)
(Last Execution of a Juvenile: August 28, 2002)
3}SOUTH CAROLINA (3)
(Last Execution of a Juvenile: January 10, 1986)
4}PENNSYLVANIA (2)
(Last Execution of a Juvenile: December 4, 1916)
5}NORTH CAROLINA (4)
(Last Execution of a Juvenile: October 30, 1942)
6}MISSISSIPPI (5)
(Last Execution of a Juvenile: May 25, 1950)
7}LOUISIANA (4)
(Last Execution of a Juvenile: May 18, 1990)
8}GEORGIA (2)
(Last Execution of a Juvenile: December 7, 1993)
9}FLORIDA (3)
(Last Execution of a Juvenile: November 8, 1954)
10}ARIZONA (4)
(Last Execution of a Juvenile: July 6, 1934)
11}ALABAMA (13)
(Last Juvenile Execution: November 24, 1961)

http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/juvenile-offenders-who-were-death-row
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There are currently 72 juveniles on death row throughout the United States -- a third of them in Texas. Since 1985, 22 children who were under the age of 18

http://crime.about.com/od/juvenile/a/juvenile040722.htm