NCJ Number
151670
Date Published
1994
Length
20 pages
Annotation
This report presents historical background and data regarding death sentences and executions of juveniles between January 1973 and October 15, 1994.
Abstract
Four juvenile offenders were executed in the last 6 months of 1993, as many had been executed in the entire preceding 7 years. During the past decade, homicide arrests of adults have increased about 25 percent, while those of juveniles have increased about 170 percent. However, a juvenile arrested for homicide today is apparently no more likely to be sentenced to death than in the past. Both the annual juvenile rate of sentences to capital punishment and the number of juvenile death row inmates remains very small in comparison to that for adults, each being between 1 percent and 2 percent of the totals. As of October 15, 1994, 41 persons were on death row under death sentences received for juvenile crimes. All were males convicted for murder. Over three-fourths of these cases involved 17-year-old offenders; nearly two-thirds of them were minority offenders. In contrast, 83 percent of the victims were adults, more than half were white, and half were females. Thus, juvenile offenders on death row often tend to be minority males whose victims were white adults. Tables, footnotes, and appended offender and case summaries