Imposition of Death Sentences for Juvenile Offenses, January 1, 1982, Through July 15, 1989

• NCJ Number: 124555
• Author(s): V L Streib
• Date Published: 1989
• Length: 5 pages
• Corporate Author: Cleveland State University
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/; NCJRS Photocopy Services
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: 10th edition

Annotation

The pace at which judges and juries sentence persons to death for crimes committed while under the age of 18 remains extremely low.

Abstract

Accurate accounting of such sentences began in 1982, with only partial data available for years before 1982. The 47 juvenile death sentences since 1982 are only 2 percent of the total. Total death sentences imposed have risen to and leveled off at about 300 each year, while juvenile death sentences have fallen to about 3 each year. This decline in juvenile death sentences may have resulted from the United States Supreme Court decision in Thompson v. Oklahoma, 108 S.Ct. 2685 (1988), but may be reversed somewhat by that Court's decision in Stanford v. Kentucky and Wilkins v. Missouri, 57 U.S.L.W. 4973 (1989). As of July 15, 1989, 28 persons remained on death row for crimes committed while under the age of 18. The last juvenile death imposed, and the only one in 1989, was that of Richard Wayne Joyner on May 25, 1989, in North Carolina.