Imposing the Death Penalty on Children (From Challenging Capital Punishment: Legal and Social Science Approaches, P 245-267, 1988, Kenneth C Haas and James A Inciardi, eds. -- See NCJ-113635)

• NCJ Number: 113644
• Author(s): V L Streib
• Date Published: 1988
• Length: 23 pages
• Sale Source: Sage Publications, Inc
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This paper examines the imposition of the death penalty on children (under age 18 at the time of the crime) from both legal and empirical perspectives.

Abstract

The legal environment is first described to indicate how adolescents can be given death sentences. The past practice of actual executions for juvenile offenses is analyzed, focusing on the executing jurisdictions, the crimes, the offenders, and the victims. A study of the current use of the death penalty for juveniles focuses on all juvenile death sentences imposed since 1982 and all juveniles currently under death sentences. A trend away from the death penalty for juveniles is identified, and criteria for guiding change are outlined, such as using less violence, basing the punishment on both the harm inflicted and the criminal intent, and instituting increased rehabilitation rather than increased threat of death. 22 references.