NCJ Number
128174
Journal
Connecticut Law Review Volume: 22 Issue: 1 Dated: (Fall 1989) Pages: 3-59
Date Published
1989
Length
57 pages
Annotation
The incidence of female offenders who commit capital crimes while under 18 years of age and the number of female offenders executed for juveniles crimes are extremely small.
Abstract
Of 282 juveniles executed in American history, only 10 have been females. The earliest case was in 1767, and the last case was in 1912. The average age at the time of the crime was 15.4 years for female juveniles, as compared to 16.2 years for male juveniles. All but one of the executed females were black or American Indian, and all of their victims were white. In eight cases involving homicide, 75 percent involved the murder of a child. Four female juveniles have been sentenced to death between 1978 and 1988. Three have had their death sentences reduced to life imprisonment, and only one female remains on death row. Typical characteristics of female juveniles condemned to death include mental retardation, minimal education, poverty and low social class, living the life of an adult while still an adolescent, and use of extreme violence. It appears that strong support for the death penalty is limited to adult male offenders. Even assuming a continuation of the death penalty in the United States for at least the next decade, almost total rejection of this punishment for female juveniles seems certain. Constitutional issues in capital punishment for female juveniles are discussed, including gender bias and juvenile status. 523 footnotes and 5 tables